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UNITED STATES OF AMERIOA. 



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ELIZABETH EGGLESTON SEELYE 

7/7 7 'VE ILLUSTRATIONS 

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THE 



STORY OF COLUMBUS 



BY 

ELIZABETH EGGLESTON SEELYE 

IVITH NINETV-NINE ILLUSTRATIONS 
By ALLEGRA EGGLESTON 

EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BY 
EDWARD EGGLESTON 







OCT 

-Or,. 

NEW YORK 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1892 



1 1892 



Copyright, 1892, 
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 



Electrotyped and Printed 

AT THE APPLETON PrESS, U. S. A. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER 

I. — Marco Polo . 
II. — Henry the navigator . 
III. — Young Columbus . 
IV. — Columbus in Portugal 
Y. — CoLUxMBUS IN Spain 
YI. — Columbus begs in vain 
YII. — A friendly monk . 
YIII. — Getting ready for the voyage 
IX. — The first voyage of Columbus 
X. — Land at last .... 
XI. — Exploring in the West Indies . 
XII. — Columbus visits Cuba . 
XIII. — The discovery cf Hayti 
XIY. — Wrecked ... 
XY. — A skirmish ..... 
XYI. — The return voyage 

XYII.— Land 

XYI II. — Rejoicings at court . 
XIX. — The second voyage 

XX. — Adventures among the Caribbee Islands 
XXI. — What had become of the colony 
XXII. — The infant settlement and its Indian neighbors 
XXIII. — Looking for gold 
XXIY. — Troubles of the colony 
XXY. — The voyage of discovery 
XXYI.— Along the coast of Cuba 
1 



PAGE 

. 1 

. 9 

. 16 

. 23 

. 30 

. 35 

, 40 

, 46 

. 51 

, 59 

. 65 

. 70 

. 76 

. 83 

. 88 

, 92 

. 97 

. 104 

. 110 

. 116 

. 121 

. 130 

. 136 

. 144 

. 148 

. 154 



VI 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

XX VII. — The return to Hispaniola 159 

XXVIII.— What happened in the colony in the absence 

OF Columbus 164 

XXIX. — Ojeda's adventure and the war that followed . 168 
XXX. — Troubles for Columbus, and a new gold mine . 175 

XXXI.— In Spain 180 

XXXII. — Columbus sets sail on his third voyage . . 185 

XXXIII. — Columbus discovers pearls 190 

XXXIV. — What happened in the colony while Columbus 

WAS away 196 

XXXV. — A rebellion and a war 205 

XXXVI.— Columbus AND the rebels 211 

XXXVII. — The king and queen displeased . . . .218 

XXXVIII. — Columbus in chains 221 

XXXIX. — Columbus lands in chains 225 

XL. — Columbus under a cloud 228 

XLI. — Columbus predicts a hurricane .... 235 

XLII. — Columbus at Honduras 239 

XLIII. — Magic power and gold plates .... 245 

XLIV. — Back to the land of gold 252 

XLV.— Dealings with Quibian 258 

XLVI.— Quibian's revenge 264 

XLVII.— Stranded .269 

XLVIIL— Columbus has a plan 274 

XLIX.— A MUTINY • . 278 

L. — Columbus makes use of an eclipse . . . 281 

LI. — A VOYAGE in a canoe 283 

LII. — A SMALL battle 288 

LIII. — The last days of Columbus .... 293 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Allegorical representation of Columbus as St. Christopher 

Frontispiece 

Gate of Pekin 1 

General map of Marco Polo's journey 2 

Catapult loaded. Catapult discharged 3 

Passport of gold, such as the Polos used in China . . .4 

Arrival of the Polos in Venice 5 

Prince Henry the navigator 8 

Position of Ceuta 9 

Roclv of Gibraltar 10 

A ship, from an old manuscript 12 

Map of the portion of the African coast discovered before Prince 

Henry's death 14 

Gate of St. Andrea, Genoa, as it exists at present . . Facing 15 
Gate of St. Andrea. Genoa, as it was in the time of Columbus . 15 

Genoa and its harbor IG 

House in which Columbus lived, as it is at present . . .17 
Supposed appearance of the house in Columbus's time (after Stagl- 

ieno) 18 

Plan of the ground floor of the house in which Columbus lived 

(after Staglieno) 19 

Cathedral of San Lorenzo, Genoa 20 

Harbor of Savona 21 

Portrait of Columbus 24 

Map of the supposed Western Hemisphere 28 

Map of Portugal, Spain, and Genoa 80 



yiii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Portrait of King Ferdinand. Portrait of Queen Isabella . .31 

Salamanca 33 

Children mocking Columbus 36 

View of the Alhambra across Granada 38 

With Juan Perez at the monastery 41 

A window in the Alhambra 43 

Gateway of Granada 44 

A caravel 49 

Peak of Tenerife 52 

The Canary Islands and the Azores 54 

Map showing the islands at which Columbus landed . . .60 
Old i)rint of 1500, showing Columbus landing, and the King of 

Spain sending ships across to America 61 

A calabash 64 

Indian paddling in a dug-out 66 

Chair such as Columbus's messengers sat in, found in a cave on 

Turk's Island 74 

'• She may not have enjoyed the clothing very much " . .78 

■*^The Indian monarch and his counsellors visit Columbus Facing 80 

Shipwreck 83 

An Indian mask from Ilayli 85 

An arquebus 86 

A Lombard 87 

Columbus finds mermaids less beautiful than they had been rep- 
resented to be 89 

A wampum belt 91 

Columbus and the sailors draw beans 94 

Columbus writes an account of his discovery . . . .96 

Shore of the Azores 98 

Port of Lisbon 101 

Iloyal palace, Barcelona 104 

Seville 108 

The harbor, looking from Cadiz 110 

Cadiz, from the mole 107 

Columbus bids good-bye to his sons .... Facing 111 

Marigalante Island 113 

An Indian child is found in a hut ... . Facing 114 

Map of Columbus's second voyage 115 

The Indian trusts Columbus ,....,. 123 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. ix 

PAGE 

Indian image of stone, from Santo Domingo .... 130 
Indian figure in wood, from Santo Domingo .... 132 
Indian figure of cotton, leather, etc., from Santo Domingo . 133 
Indian image of stone, from Santo Domingo .... 134 

The Giralda Tower, Seville 137 

Map of the route from Isabella to Cibao 142 

Map of the voyage along the coast of Cuba 149 

View of the southern shore of Hispaniola 163 

Old cannon from the fortress of Santo Domingo .... 168 

^ Ojeda praying to his picture of the Virgin . . . Facing 168 

Indian battle-axe 169 

Cannon of Columbus's time 170 

Stone carving from Santo Domingo 172 

Columbus's armor 173 

Map of Hispaniola 177 

'^ Catalina tells Diaz of a new gold mine . . . Facing 178 

South America 188 

A Trinidad palm 189 

Tower and fortress of Santo Domingo 196 

The guana 198 

Fortress and shore of Santo Domingo 200 

Church of San Antonio, near Santo Domingo .... 201 
Well at Santo Domingo, where ships get water, said to have 

been built by Bartholomew Columbus 206 

""^Don Bartholomew finds his messengers dead . . Facing 209 
Chapel called Columbus's chapel, near Santo Domingo . .211 
Tower in which it is said Columbus was imprisoned . . . 222 
Interior of the fortress in which it is supposed Columbus was 

imprisoned 223 

Portrait of Vasco da Gama, from a manuscript of his time . 229 
Ruins of St. Nicholas Church, Santo Domingo .... 231 

"' Interior of Dominican convent, Santo Domingo . . Facing 232 
Ceiba tree, to which it is said the ships moored in Columbus's 

time 236 

Map of Columbus's last voyage of discovery .... 240 
Indian figure of stone found on the Honduras coast . . . 243 
Sea view and Indians of the Mosquito Coast . . Facing 246 
Characteristic Indian building on the coast .... 250 
Don Bartholomew embraces the chief 262 



X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Hull of a ship of Columbus's time 272 

Monument to Columbus at Barcelona 291 

House in Valladolid in which Columbus died .... 297 
Cathedral of Santo Domingo, where Columbus's remains were 

buried 299 

Palace of Santo Domingo built bv Diego Columbus , . , 302 



INTRODUCTION. 

By Edward Eggleston. 

The purpose of tlie writer of this book lias been to 
relate tlie life of the greatest of discoverers in a manner 
interesting and delightful to the general reader, while 
producing a narrative strictly conformed to the facts 
as given by the best ancient authorities and developed 
by the latest researches of scholars. There is here no 
attempt to discuss the pros and cons of debated points 
in Columbian history. Such investigators as IN'avarrete, 
Mr. Harrisse, Signor Staglieno, and our own learned I 
Mr. Justin Winsor, have wrought abundantly and with 
large results upon these problems. It is the purpose of 
the present work to tell the story as understood 
through the labors of these scholars, leaving aside 
ponderous discussions which in a book intended for 
general reading would tire without enlightening. 

Though disclaiming original investigation beyond 
the careful use of the leading authorities, Mrs. Seelye 
has been at much pains not to give the reader the dis- 
credited myths used by the old school of biographers. 



xii INTRODUCTION. 

It is a poor service to relate as history an interesting 
story that is not true, or to lift an historical figure into a 
heroism far from his real character. To give the facts 
as we know them, and to show Columbus as he really 
was, has been the sincere endeavor of the writer of this 
book. The story is wonderful enough without the 
embellishment of fiction ; the man is interesting enough 
when painted in his real colors. 

The curious researches of Mr. Henry Harrisse into 
the personal life of Columbus, the results of which have 
been given to the w^orld in monographs in several 
languages, have assisted the author to give it a personal 
coloring which is always a legitimate source of interest, 
especially to the young reader. One can hardly speak 
too highly of the patient ingenuity by which the 
antiquary Sign or Staglieno has managed to find and 
identify beyond doubt the house in which Columbus 
lived as a boy. Such investigations dissipate error, and 
make us know the real man and his environment. 

It was the fashion of the older modern biographers 
of Columbus, of whom Irving was the chief, to see all 
the Christian virtues in their subject. The school of 
romantic history and biography was as characteristic of 
the first half of the present century as the school 
of romantic fiction and poetry. Both sought at all 
costs to find a hero, and, whenever possible, to set over 
against this central figure a heroine. When the dis- 



INTRODUCTION. xiii 

covery of America was the theme, Cokmibus became a 
knight-errant with an admixture of saintliness^ while 
Isabella played the counterpart of heroine, to maintain 
the symmetry of the narrative. Such a method be- 
longed to a poetic age and had its uses, but it was fatal 
to sound historical conclusions. It reached its extreme 
of folly in the movement set on foot to have Columbus 
canonized by the Church for a saint. 

We have now swung to another extreme in our 
literary methods. Producing fiction much of which is 
quite too sordid to be justly called realistic, we are 
possessed at the same time with a sort of rage to debase 
the great figures of history. I^ot content with robbing 
them of the false laurels with which our imaginative 
predecessors have crowned them, we give way to a 
pessimistic passion for denying them any virtue at all. 
Because they have been praised for qualities they have 
not, we scorn them for false pretenders. One of the 
worst sufferers from this reaction is the great Genoese 
sailor whose achievement of four hundred years ago gave 
to civilization a world unknown before. There seems to 
be an emulation of detraction among the most recent 
investigators and learned biographers. To paint the 
discoverer in the darkest colors is accounted nowadays 
an evidence of scholarship. But the pessimistic and de- 
structive mode of judgment is as far from being scien- 
tific as the now discarded romantic treatment, while it is 



xiv INTRODUCTION. 

mucli less agreeable. Historic justice remembers the 
wisdom expressed in the motto which was Lord Bacon's 
device, and settles itself in a secure moderation. 

Let us grant, then, that this great navigator was not 
a saint. Like other great men, he had faults even when 
judged by the light of his own time ; and we have no 
right to censure him by the standards of our age. But 
he was a great lifteenth-century man. He could hardly 
have won his battle had he not had some of the faults 
of his ao^e. He has been blamed for not havino^ the 
quahties of Copernicus or Las Casas. We must not 
expect too much for our shilling. Columbus had in a 
degree rarely equaled the power to consecrate himself 
to one great achievement. He had courage, fortitude, 
and a mastery of navigation as then understood. In a 
word, he only had all that was needed to produce a man 
capable of crossing the Sea of Darkness. 'No other 
navigator of his time had conceptions so bold or a 
pertinacity of pursuit so unflagging. Men of aptitudes 
so special are usually one-sided. History will not lay 
it up against General Grant that he was a weak states- 
man, nor will posterity insist on remembering that Tur- 
ner, the painter, wrote bad poetry. It is enough that Co- 
lumbus alone of the men of the fifteenth century had 
the imagination to plan and the boldness to carry out a 
voyage in search of land to the westward. No one 
can make him less than what his own merit has made 



INTRODUCTION. XV 

him, the most conspicuous figure in the history of his 
age — the man wlio rendered the world the greatest 
service possible at that moment. 

He was not in advance of his age in other respects. 
He was superstitious ; he was ambitious ; he sought 
wealth, which was the prize that spurred other Genoese 
adventurers to hard tasks. He lacked the enthusiasm 
of disinterested research which possessed Copernicus 
and the reformatory spirit of Las Casas. But neither 
Copernicus nor Las Casas ever dreamed of setting out 
to find land by the untried water way to the westward, 
nor could either of them have set on foot so bold an 
undertaking. Nature does not give everything to one 
man. And the very faults charged against Columbus — 
his pursuit of wealth and his belief in his own divine mis- 
sion — propelled and su]>ported him in his arduous and 
perilous enterprise. Let us judge him fairly and by the 
standards of his age, and honor him for what he was 
and did, without censuring him that he was not some- 
thing else. To rob the doers of great deeds of their 
hard-earned glory, is to deprive the race of one of the 
mainsprings of notable actions. 

In the laborious task of gathering material for au- 
thentic pictures, the illustrator has been placed under 
obligation by the kindness of several gentlemen. Mr. 
Nathan Appleton, of Boston, generously put at her dis- 
posal a valuable collection of photographs, and several 



xvi rNTRODUCTION. 

drawings made under his own supervision in tlie island 
of Santo Domingo. Mr. E. C. Perry, of Honduras, 
also placed his collection in her hands. Acknowledg- 
ments are also due to Mr. Henry Marquand, of Kew 
York, Prof. Otis T. Mason, of the National Museum, 
and to others. 

It remains only to say that the present book is^ the 
first of a series intended to introduce the young reader 
and the general reader to wdiat is most interesting and 
delightful in American history. It is the result of the 
co-operation of two sisters already known to the public 
by work in their several departments. I have taken a 
lively interest in this labor of my daughters from the 
beginning, giving it whatever benefit I could of any 
knowledge of mine and of my experience in book- 
making, but my function has been merely editorial. 






hf 













GATE OF PEKIN. 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTER I. 



MAKCO POLO. 



125Jk-132Jt. 



In tlie middle ages people had never dreamed 
about such a place as America. To them the known 
world consisted of Europe, part of Asia, and a little 
strip of Africa. The first man to help people to know 
more about the world and to make them wish to know 
still more was a Yenetian gentleman, named Marco 
Polo, who lived two hundred years before Columbus. 
Strangely enough, Marco Polo did something toward 
the discovery of America, though he journeyed by 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



land rather than by sea, and traveled to the East in- 
stead of to the West. 

When Marco Polo was born (about 1254) his 
father and uncle, Nicolo and Maffeo Polo, had just 
sailed away from Venice, which was their home, on a 
trading voyage to Constantinople. When they got to 
that city, instead of trading the goods which they had 
brouglit with them for some of the silks and spices 
which came from the far East and returning home as 







GENERAL MAP OF MARCO POLO'S JOURNEY. 

other merchants did, they exchanged all their merchan- 
dise for jewels, which could be concealed from robbers 
more easily than gold, and went on into the Eastern 
countries. I suppose they had some curiosity to find 
out where the spices, silks, gums, and jewels, which 
Europeans were so glad to buy, came from. They 
journeyed through Asia to China, or Cathay, as people 
called it in those days. The great Chinese Emperor, 
Kublai Khan, treated the strangers very kindly, and 
sent back a message by them to the Pope. 



MARCO POLO. 



The travelers were gone nineteen years, and when 
they returned they found that Nicolo had a son named 
Marco whom tliey had never seen, although he had by 
this time grown to be a man. They stayed in Italy two 
years, and then they took Marco with them and set out 

for the empire of Kublai 




Khan 



once more, carry- 



CATAPULT LOADED. 



ing some presents and 
letters from the Pope to 
the Chinese Emperor. 
It took the Polos four 
years to make the diffi- 
cult and dangerous jour- 
ney across Asia, to the home of the Grand Ivhan, who 

was very much delighted to see them. Marco became 

a great favorite with 

the Emperor, who made 

liim one of his officers. 

While Marco Polo was 

traveling about China 

as an officer of Kublai 

Khan his father and 

uncle made themselves 

useful by building a 

catapult, wliich was a 

machine at that time in 

use in Europe for throwing stones and other missiles. 

Gunpowder had not yet been invented. 

When the Polos had been away from home about 

twenty years they grcAV homesick. They asked the 

Khan for permission to go back to Venice for a visit, 

but the Emperor was so fond of them that he at first 




CATAPULT DISCHARGED. 



4 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

refused. He finally consented to let tliem go, but lie 
made tliem promise to return to China, giving them, at 
the same time, many rich presents and some tablets of 
gold, which tliey were to show as passports in the vari- 
ous countries that they w^ould have to pass through. 
About this time the daughter of Kublai Khan was to 

be married to the King 
of Persia. The Khan 
sent the Polos as far as 
Persia in the fleet w^hich 
carried this princess to 
her new home. The 
Chinese fleet touched at 
diflerent points in the 
East Indies, and so the 
travelers had a chance to 
see something of the isl- 
ands where spices grew\ 
When they reached Per- 
sia they were entertained 
very magnificently for 
nine months. After this 
somewhat long wedding 
festival w^as over the 
Polos continued on their 
way to Europe, dressed 
in coarse Chinese costume, so that they might not be 
in danger of being murdered for their riches. 

When they reached Ycnice, after having been gone 
twenty-four years, the travelers found that they had 
come to be regarded by their friends as long since dead 
and buried, and tliat their house had been inherited by 




PASSPORT OF GOLD 61T€H AS THE 
POLOS USED IN CHINA. 



/ 



MARCO POLO. 




(5 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

some of their relatives. Tliis was unpleasant for the 
three Polos, especially as the members of their family 
refused to believe that they were indeed themselves, 
which was not so strange, for the wanderers were very 
much tanned, wore coarse Chinese dresses, and spoke 
their own tongue like Chinamen. 

Tlie strangers, however, gave a dinner to which 
they invited all the gentlemen of the Polo family. 
When the guests arrived they found the travelers 
dressed in robes of crimson satin. No sooner had 
water been served for the washing of hands, after the 
fashion of those days, than the three strange Polos rose, 
left the room, and presently returned in robes of crim- 
son damask. They caused the satin gowns to be cut up 
and divided among the servants. The guests probably 
thought this a very extravagant proceeding. However, 
the dinner had progressed but little further before the 
travelers again left the room and returned in crimson 
velvet robes, while the damask gowns were also dis- 
tributed among tlie servants. After a time the three 
Polos left the room once more, and came back dressed 
as Venetians, causing the velvet suits to be cut up as 
the others had been. Finally, when the cloth was re- 
moved from the table and the servants dismissed, the 
travelers brought in the coarse Chinese dresses, which 
they had worn on their travels. Taking sharp knives, 
they cut open the seams of these old garments and took 
out rubies, carbuncles, emeralds, and diamonds. Before 
leaving China they had exchanged the wealth which 
Kublai Khan had given them for these jewels, so that 
they might carry their riches with them. The sight of 
so much wealth quite freshened the memories of the 



MARCO POLO. 7 

other members of the Polo family. They could no 
longer doubt that such rich men were their relations. 

After this, many people came to visit Marco Polo, 
in order to talk with him about his travels. He used 
the word millions so much in describing the riches of 
Kublai Khan that they dubbed him Messere Marco Mil- 
lione, or Mr. Marco Millions, as we should say, while 
his house is yet called " the court of the millions," for 
many people did not believe the strange tales of Mr. 
Marco Millions. 

Marco Polo was afterward captured in a war be- 
tween Venice and Genoa, and while he was in a Genoese 
prison he dictated an account of his travels to a fellow- 
prisoner, who wrote it down. This book became very 
famous. Many people doubted Marco Polo's stories 
about gold-roofed palaces and other fairy-like wonders, 
though we now know that his marvelous tales were many 
of them true. The reading of Marco Polo's travels set 
some thoughtful people to thinking about distant coun- 
tries and to planning ways of reaching them, so that it 
was Marco Polo, instead of his father and uncle, who had 
to do with the making of great discoveries. The Polos 
were not the only Europeans who had wandered as far 
as China, but Marco Polo was the first to leave a care- 
ful account of what he saw and heard. After him there 
was an Englishman named Sir John Mandeville who 
made a similar journey, and also wrote about it. These 
two books were read much by studious men, who were 
curious to know more concerning the geography of the 
world. 



THE STOllY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTEE 11. 



HENRY THE NAVIGATOR. 



1394-1473. 

A MAN who had much more to do with the discovery 
of America than did Marco Polo was Prince Henry of 
Portugal, though he too looked for an Eastern and not 

a Western world. This 
prince was born in 1394, 
nearly a hundred years 
before Columbus discov- 
ered America. He was 
the son of John I of 
Portugal. This king had 
seized the throne at a 
time when there was great 
dispute as to who had a 
right to it, and most of 
the people believed him 
to be the only man able 
and brave enough to save 
the country. He proved to be a great king. Queen 
Phili])pa, tlie mother of Prince Henry, was an English 
lady, a daughter of the famous John of Gaunt, and 
sister of the Enghsh Tving Henry IV. Prince Henry's 
parents were nol)le and high-minded people, and they 
gave their sons the best education to be had in that day. 




PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR. 



HENRY THE NAVIGATOR. 



9 



might have 

tliought 

inviting 



Henry was the third son of King John and Queen 
Philippa, and as it was not likely that he would ever 
become king, he had the more time to spend in such 
studies as he loved. When the three young men had 
come of age, King John and Queen Philippa wished 
them to be made knights. In order to become a knight 
a young man had iirst to do some brave deed with his 
sword, even though he were a prince. That his sons 
a chance to win knighthood, King John 
of giving tournaments for a whole year and 
the knights of all nations to attend them. 
Tournaments, however, were but playing at war, and 
the king's Minister of Finance told him that, as this 
would be a very costly plan, it would be better to spend 
the money in attacking the Moorish city of Ceuta, which 
was opposite to the rock 
of Gibraltar, for it was 
tliought in those days a 
Christian act to attack the 
infidel Moors. 

The young princes 
were better pleased to 
gain knighthood in true 
war ; so everything was 
secretly made ready to 
attack Ceuta, and Queen 
Phili]3pa had three jew- 
eled swords made to pre- 
sent to her sons when they should be knighted. But 
before the fleet was ready to sail the queen fell ill and 
died, giving the swords to her sons on her deathbed. 
Instead of waiting to mourn long over her death, the 




^^^rn^/ 



POSITION OF CEUTA. 



10 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



king and princes set out on tlieir expedition, for tliey 
knew that this valiant action would have pleased her 
best. 

Twice the Portuguese fleet anchored before Ceuta, 
and twice it was scattered by storms. The Moors were 
much frightened when they first saw the Christian ships, 
but when they were a second time driven away by 
storms the people of Ceuta w^ere thrown off their 
guard, for they thought that the vessels would never 
get together again. Prince Henry, after a great deal 







ROCK OF GIBRALTAR. 



of trouble, however, got the fleet assembled again, and 
the Portuguese ships anchored for the third time before 
Ceuta. When the Moors saw this they crowded the 
wall of the city on the side next the fleet with men, 
and lighted candles in all the windows, in order to dis- 
courage the Christians by making them think that there 
were a great many soldiers in the town. The Portu- 
guese were indeed already discouraged by so bad a be- 
ginning, but the king and his sons held to their purpose. 



HENRY THE NAVIGATOR. H 

The princes landed, each of tliem in command of a 
division of the army, fought their way in at three dif- 
ferent gates, and took possession of several parts of the 
city. But their soldiers fell to plundering too soon, 
and the Moors, seeing the Christians off their guard, 
made a rush and tried to drive them from the town. 
Prince Henry held the narrow street where he was with 
but a handful of men, and once, left all alone, he fought 
the enemy single-handed. Presently a messenger went 
to the king and told him that his son Henry had fallen. 
The king only answered : 

" Such is the end which soldiers must expect." 

When evening came, how^ever, and John I called a 
council. Prince Henry was there, and his father's face 
lighted up with joy when he saw him. The king of- 
fered to knight Henry first of the tliree princes, because 
he had proved himself so brave a soldier, but Henry 
begged that his older brothers should be honored before 
him. 

All night long the soldiers made plunder of the 
gold, silver, spices, and fine stuffs to be found in the 
Moorish city, while one nobleman selected for his share 
more than six hundred columns of marble and alabas- 
ter and a dome, purposing to build with these a palace 
for himself in Portugal. When morning came, the 
streets ran with oil, honey, spices, butter, and preserves 
which had been wasted by the plunderers. The three 
princes were knighted in the great mosque on this day ; 
the Moors, with their women and children, meanwhile 
climbed the mountains behind the city, bewailing their 
loss. While others were plundering. Prince Henry 
was learning from Moorish prisoners something about 



12 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



the interior of Africa and the coast of Gninea, which 
made him tliink of making some discoveries in tliese 
unknown parts. 

After Henry returned home he was invited by kings 
of other countries to come and lead tlieir armies, but 
instead of becoming a great warrior he liked better to 
give up his life to making discoveries. In his day peo- 




A SHIP FROM AN OLD MANUSCRIPT. 



pie imagined, when they thought anything about it at 
all, that Africa reached to the south pole, but Prince 
Henry began to have a notion that possibly Africa did 
not extend so far, and that ships might sail around it, 
and tlms reach the rich world of the East. His second 
brother, Dom Pedro, or Prince Peter, as we should say. 



HENRY THE NAVIGATOR. 13 

spent twelve years in traveling to what people tlien 
called the seven parts of the world — that is, to Palestine, 
Turkey, Italy, Hungary, Denmark, England, and other 
places in Europe. When he came home he brought 
Avith him the travels of Marco Polo and a map said to 
have been made by this famous traveler. So Henry 
read the book of Marco Polo, and it helped to make 
him wish to find the way to the East Indies and China. 

Prince Henry went to live on a lonely promontory 
which ran out into the sea. There was nothing but 
sage brush growing on this barren place, because the 
waves in time of storm spouted up through holes in the 
rocky shore and fell in a salt spray over the land, so 
that no other j^lants could grow there. Here he studied, 
and sent out ship after ship, to find out all about the 
coast of Africa. 

Before Henry's time vessels had sailed only in the 
Mediterranean and in the Atlantic Ocean along the 
coasts of Europe. Sailors w^ere very timid and feared 
to leave the land far out of sight. The compass had 
only just come to be used. For a long time after it 
was discovered that a needle rubbed on a magnet would 
turn toward the polar star, sea captains were afraid to 
use this discovery in finding their way by sea, lest their 
sailors should suspect them of being magicians, for men 
imagined that so strange a thing must have been made 
by tlie help of evil spirits. Prince Henry interested him- 
self in all things that could make it safer to sail in the 
great Atlantic, of wdiich people knew so little and had 
so great a horror that they called it the " Sea of Dark- 
ness." He improved maps and spent great sums of 
money on voyages of discovery. Although he did not 



14 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



sail on these voyages himself he came to be called 
" Henry the Navigator." 

Some of the nobles of Portugal, who troubled them- 
selves but little about unknown parts of the world, com- 
plained about Prince Henry's useless expeditions to the 
coast of Africa, until the Madeira Islands were discov- 
ered by his ships, when they thought best to say no 
more. 

In spite of all the efforts of Henry the Navigator, 
discovery went on slowly. He had to offer his cap- 
tains great rewards to get them to round a new cape. 
The sailors of those days imagined strange monsters in 
unknown seas, and thought that at the equator nobody 

could live, and that there 
the water of the ocean boiled 
because of the great heat. 
Prince Henry had difficulty 
in getting his seamen to sail 
around Cape Bojador and 
thus to enter the tropics. 
They were for the most part 
content to go a little farther 
than the last ship had sailed, 
and return with some gold 
dust and negro slaves with 
which to make a profit on 
their voyages. 
Henry lived among seamen. He sent out gentle- 
men of his household, his cup bearer and his squires, 
as captains on his ships. Adventurous sailors from 
other countries came to him to be sent on voyages of 
discovery, while he entertained negro chiefs and dined 



fi^^trc:^^^ 




(Jinary . "* : > 



CS^^^ 



map of the portion of the afri- 
can coast discovered before 
prin(;e henry's death. 




Oate of St. A7idrea (Genoa) as it exists at present. 



HENRY THE NAVIGATOR. 



15 



on ostrich eggs brought from Africa. When Prince 
Henry died, in 1473, the African coast had been ex- 
plored to Cape Yerd, but the way to India had not yet 
been fonnd, though the Portuguese had begun to be 
hopeful of it, because the coast of Africa turned east- 
ward from Cape Yerd. 




GATE OF ST. ANDREA, GENOA, 
AS IT WAS IN THE TIME OF COLUMBUS. 



16 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTEK III. 



YOUNG COLUMBUS. 
lUQ-147Jt. 

A Venetian gentleman and a Portuguese prince 
had made great discoveries in unknown parts of the 
world, but the most wonderful of all discoveries was to 
be made by one who was neither prince nor gentleman, 
Christoforo Colombo, a Genoese weaver. 

Christopher Columbus, as we call him, was born in 
the Italian city of Genoa, somewhere about 1446. His 




GENOA AND ITS HARBOR, 

father was called Domenico Colombo, and his mother's 
name was Susanna. Ilis father was a weaver of wool, 
while liis mother came also of a family of wool and silk 
weavers. After Columbus became famous, some writers 



YOUNG COLUMBUS. 



17 



tried to prove that lie came of a noble family, but this 
is not true, for the Colombos, as they were called in 
Genoa, were simple working people. 
The father, three uncles, and several 
of the cousins of Christopher Co- 
lumbus were weavers, while his only 
sister married a cheese merchant. 
The father of Columbus was always 
poor, often he had to go in debt for 
the wool which he worked up, and 
once he bought a little piece of land 
and agreed to pay for it in pieces of 
cloth, but he did not get it paid for. 
He worked at his trade until he was 
about seventy-five years old, and 
finally died in debt, though he lived 
long enough to know that his oldest 
son had made a great discovery. 

A great deal of trouble has been 
taken to find the house which Do- 
menico Columbus owned, where Co- 
lumbus lived when he was a boy, and 
where he was probably born. It is 
a very narrow house, low and dark, 
and stands in a quarter of Genoa 
which was outside of the old city 
walls. In this quarter lived weavers 
of wool and silk, dressers of cloth, 
fullers, carders, dyers, and all people 
who made their living by working at 
the making of cloth. Thus we know^ 
what kind of neighbors the great dis- 




HOUSE IN WHICH CO- 
LUMBUS LIVED As IT 
IS AT PRESENT. 



18 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



coverer had when he was a boy. The little house 
stood just M^thout the gate of St. Andrea, and Colum- 
bus must have seen this fine old gate many times in 
a day. 

On the lower floor of the narrow little house was 
the shop, which was open to the street, and here Domen- 
ico Columbus and his apprentices did 
their weaving, displaying their goods 
on a counter at the open front, and 
stopping work to sell to any customer 
who should chance to come. The 
family lived over the shop, and may 
have rented the story above this to 
some other poor family. The win- 
dow's had no glass in them, but there 
were wooden shutters for cold weath- 
er, with small apertures in them, 
which let in light through oiled 
linen or paper. 

The weavers of Genoa established 
little schools for their children, and 
probably Columbus was sent to one 
of these to learn to read, write, and 
cipher, until he got old enough to 
learn his father's trade. When this 
time came he went into his father's 
shop as an apprentice, and here he 
learned to comb wool or weave, prob- 
ably both. Columbus had three brothers, who were 
apprenticed to learn the weaver's trade, like himself. 
In later life he shared his good fortunes with two of 
them, Bartholomew and Diego, while we know nothing 




supposed appearance 
of the house in 
Columbus's time. 
(staolieno.) , 



YOUNG COLUMBUS. 



19- 



m'////////i'//v/zi 



of ]|is other brother, except that he must have died 
when he was rather young. 

In 1470, when Christo- ,- 

pher Cohimbus was about „ 71 

twenty-four years old, he | 

went on some small trad- , j 

ing voyage, for he signed a / a .' 

contract to pay a man sixty 
dollars for some wine 
which Columbus was 
to take on board a 
vessel and trade at 
some other port in the 
Mediterranean. But 
he does not seem to have been yet 
much of a sailor, for he is still called 
a weaver in the old papers. 

In Genoa a young man w^as not 
of age until he was twenty-five years 
old. About the time that Colum- 
bus came of age his father moved 
with his family to the city of Sa- 
vona, and there set up a weaver's 
shop. Two years after the removal 
to Savona a young comrade of Chris- 
topher's, named Mcolo Monleone, 
who was also a weaver, died. Be- 
fore Kicolo died, he made a will, to 
which there were six witnesses, three 
of whom were tailors, one a boot- 
maker, one a cloth-dresser, and one a 
weaver, this weaver being Christo- 
3 



y/^2^^EZ^^ 



W^A 



fW-^WM'/ZW^ 



yn=£ 



m 



PLAN OF THE GROUND- 
FLOOR OF THE HOUSE 
IX WHICH COLUMBUS 
LIVED. (STAGLIENO.) 



20 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



pher Columbus. From this we know that Columbus 
was yet a plain working man. Soon after this, the 




CATIIEDKAL OF SAN LORENZO, GENOA. 



young weaver and his father signed a paper in which, 
they agreed to pay for some wool in pieces of cloth. 

Old legal papers, the only sources from which we 
can learn anything very certain about the early life of 



YOUNG COLUMBUS. 



21 



Columbus, show that he lived in Savona as a weaver 
until 1473, when he must have been about twenty-seven 
years old. There can be no doubt, however, that Chris- 
topher Columbus was no common weaver's boy, for he 
had less than twenty years more in which to learn to be 
a great navigator as well as to become a man of consid- 
erable education. It is altogether likely that he had very 




HARBOR OF SAVONA. 



little schooling, and that, like other men who have been 
poor boys and become famous, he educated himself by 
hard study at odd times. 

Genoa, like other Italian cities, had made itself rich 
by sending ships out to trade. All the land which be- 
longed to this city was a very small province, hemmed 
in by mountains, and most Genoese men who wished to 



22 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

become rich or famous had to take to the sea. The 
province of Genoa had ah-eady furnished many admirals 
to Portugal, where such great discoveries were being 
pushed forward. No doubt Columbus, from the time 
that he was a little boy, had often stood on the wharves 
and seen the ships unloading their valuable merchandise, 
while he talked with seamen fresh from distant lands. 
He must have heard of Prince Henry's great plan for 
reaching India by going around Africa, and of the voy- 
ages made by the Portuguese. Perhaps he too had 
heard while he was still a weaver the story of Marco 
Polo's strange travels, for we know that at some time 
in his life he read Marco Polo's book, and that it made 
him wish very much to reach the rich countries about 
which it told. 

It is certain that young Columbus had a lively imag- 
ination, as well as a great deal of ambition. No doubt 
he often fancied himself making such a strange jour- 
ney as did Marco Polo, or sailing still farther than any 
Portuguese captain had done, and reaching the much- 
desired India. For him, as for many another Genoese 
young man, the sea was the only high road to fame and 
fortune, and Portugal was the place to go to if one 
wished to become a great discoverer, so when he was 
about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, Columbus gave up 
his trade forever and took to the sea. A few years later 
we find him in Portugal. 



COLUMBUS IN PORTUGAL. 28 



CHAPTEK TV. 

COLUMBUS IX PORTUGAL. 
1474-1485. 

Theee is very little known about the life of Colum- 
bus before he became a great man. We know that he went 
to live in Portugal, and that while he was there he made 
many voyages, for he afterward said that he had sailed 
in all the east, west, and north. It did not take a great 
deal of voyaging, however, to go into all the known seas 
of those days. Columbus had but to sail east in the 
Mediterranean, north to Iceland, south along the ex- 
plored coast of Africa, and to the islands west of Africa 
and of Europe to be a very experienced sailor, for this 
was as far as Europeans had ventured in any direction. 
At some time in his early life he got a wound, perhaps 
in one of the sea fights common in that day. AVhile 
Columbus was in Portugal he married a Portuguese 
lady, of good family, named Philippa Moniz. 

Columbus was a tall, strong man, with a long face, 
brilliant blue eyes, an aquiline nose, red hair, and a ruddy 
complexion, marked with freckles. He was rather rough 
and abstracted in his manner, and somewhat quick-tem- 
pered, though he knew how to be amiable at times. 
Those who saw Columbus said that he was a fine-looking 
man, although he dressed almost as plainly as a monk, 
for he was too thoughtful to care much about his clothes. 



24 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



He was very much interested in geography, and learned 
to make maps and globes, and he sometimes made his 
living by selling these. Perhaps while he was making 
spheres he thought a great deal about what was in the 
great blank spaces. He believed that the part of the 
world already known — that is, from the Canary Islands 
to a certain city in Asia — made two thirds of the distance 




POKTKAIT OF COLUMBUS. 



around the globe, and that, as Marco Polo said that Asia 
extended very far eastward, it must come quite a dis- 
tance over into the unknown third of the world, and 
hence it would be quite easily reached by sailing west 
from Europe. In reality, only about one third of the 
world was known, while there remained two thirds to 
be explored ; but learned men in those days made the 



COLUMBUS IN PORTUGAL. 25 

same mistake concernino^ the size of the earth that 
Cohimbiis did. Probably if the truth about the circum- 
ference of the world had been known, America would 
not have been found bj Columbus. 

We have seen that Columbus was born in an age of 
discovery. It was not so much a curiosity to know 
about tlie unknown parts of the earth that made men 
at first bent on discovery as it was the desire for 
wealth. Italian cities, like Genoa, where Columbus 
was born, and Yenice, where Marco Polo lived, had 
become rich by sending out ships to trade with the 
Mohammedans, who sold spices, silks, and precious 
stones, which were brought by caravans from Asia. 
Those who had the means liked very much to dress in 
silk and jewels, while spices were greatly prized for 
seasoning the food of that day, which was rather plain 
and coarse. Great prices were paid for all kinds of 
goods from the East, and those who could sell them be- 
came rich, and enriched the countries where they lived. 
For this reason Prince Henry, as well as his brother and 
nephew, who were successively kings of Portugal, wished 
to find a way to India by sailing around Africa, thus 
making their country a market for the precious goods 
of the East. Spices and jewels, silks and precious gums^ 
drew men around the world on Ions: and dano^erous 
voyages and led them to find out about the globe on 
which they lived. 

It was probably while Columbus was in Portugal 
that he first thought of sailing directly west to reach 
Asia, instead of trying to go around Africa. He had 
not the least idea of finding a new continent, nor any 
desire to make such a discovery. Men in those days 



26 THE STOKY OF COLUMBUS. 

liad no use for a new world ; what tliey longed for was 
an old world where precious commodities not to be 
found in Europe could be procured. 

In the days of Columbus many fables about islands 
in the Atlantic Ocean were believed. One of these 
stories was that when the Moors had conquered Spain, 
seven bishops with a great many people had sailed 
away into the Atlantic Ocean to an island where they 
had founded seven splendid cities, and the imaginary 
island on which they lived was called the Island of the 
Seven Cities. Another tale was about an island called 
St. Brandon, where a Scotch priest named St. Brandon 
had landed in the sixth century. People believed so 
firmly in these fantastic islands that the kings of Por- 
tugal several times gave them to subjects of theirs, w^ho 
never could succeed in finding their possessions. An 
imaginary island in which the ancients had believed, 
called Antilla, was looked for. There was still another 
fabled island called Brazil, and an Englisliman named 
Thomas Lloyd had sailed to the west of Ireland in 
1480 in search of it. After about nine months Lloyd's 
ships put into an Irish port, badly beaten by tempests, 
and without having found the island of Brazil. People 
living on the Maderia Islands thought they saw on clear 
days a large island to the west, which they l^elieved to 
be St. Brandon. They sent in search of it, having first 
taken care to procure a grant of St. Brandon, but their 
island was never found. In spite of such disappoint- 
ments, St. Brandon, the Seven Cities, Antilla, Brazil, 
and other imaginary islands were put down on the maps 
of that day. Columbus made a careful note of all these 
tales. He too believed in the fabled islands, but he did 



COLUMBUS IN PORTUGAL. 27 

not want to make a random voyage in search of them, as 
had other sailors. He only thought of them as conveni- 
ent and encouraging stopping places in making the long 
voyage westward to the shores of Japan and China. 

All that was known about Japan in the days of 
Columbus was that Marco Polo had reported that there 
was an island, which he called Cipango, lying five hun- 
dred leagues east of China. Marco Polo said that in 
Cipango there was an abundance of precious stones, 
while the king of that country lived in a palace the 
roof of which was covered with plates of gold, just as 
in Europe palaces are covered with plates of lead. 
This story is not impossible, since temples roofed with 
tiles of gold are not unknown in Asia to-day. Colum- 
bus did not doubt the stories of " Marco Millions," 
and he imagined himself sailing westward around the 
world, and so reaching the Island of Japan and the land 
of the Grand Khan. Thus the accounts of Marco Polo 
had much to do with both the discoveries of Prince 
Henry on the coast of Africa and with the finding of a 
new world in the West. 

Columbus was not the only man who had the grand 
idea of sailing west to reach the East. A great as- 
tronomer named Paolo Toscanelli, who lived in Flor- 
ence, had sent a letter to the Portuguese King, in w^iich 
he said that India could be reached by a shorter way 
than that which the Portuguese were looking for around 
Africa, and that this voyage should be made by sailing 
always westward. Columbus wrote to Paolo Toscanelli 
on the subject, and the great astronomer sent him a 
copy of this letter. He also sent Columbus a map in 
which the shores of Asia were made to come oj)230site to 



28 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



the shores of Europe, while the imaginary Antilla and 
other islands, as well as the real Japan, dotted the ocean 
at convenient distances between the two continents. 
We see that though Columbus was not the only person 
who had the great idea, the difference between him and 
other men was that he believed so strongly in his idea 
that after he had once got it he thought of nothing 
else, and tried for nothing else but to carry it out. 

Since he was to find rich heathen lands, which, ac- 
cording to the idea of those days, must be taken posses- 




MAP OF THE SUPPOSED WESTEKN HEMISPHERE. 



sion of and converted to Christianity, Columbus thought 
it necessary to have a powerful king back of him. 
Besides this, he was far too poor a man to pay the cost 
of such an expedition alone. From the days of Prince 
Henry the Portuguese kings had known a great deal 
al)ont navigation and had " great heart," as Columbus 
himself said, in undertaking voyages of discovery. 



COLUMBUS IN SPAIN. 29 

John II, the grand-nephew of Prince Henry, was now 
on the throne. The king entertained learned men, 
both Jews and Christians in his palace, and received 
mariners from all parts of the world. While he reigned 
some noble discoveries were made by his sailors. 

Columbus had come to live in Portugal, the land of 
discovery. He carried his project to John II, propos- 
ing to him to find a way to the East Indies which 
should be shorter than the way he was seeking around 
Africa. The king kept Columbus waiting a long time, 
and at length declined his proposal. There were sev- 
eral reasons why so wise a king should have made this 
mistake. Columbus was a poor stranger, and Portugal 
did not need any longer to borrow its seafaring men 
from other countries, since there were now many hardy 
seamen in Portugal who had been taught in the school 
of African explorations. Then, too, Columbus, poor as 
he was, demanded great rewards for his discoveries ; he 
would have nothing less than the vice-royalty of the 
lands which he should find, the title of admiral, and a 
tenth part of the profits. He meant to make himself 
rich as well as famous by his discoveries. King John 
did not give such high rewards, and he was also perhaps 
a little disappointed in the results of Portuguese explo- 
rations, which had cost more than they had brought in. 
As the Cape of Good Hoj^e had not yet been found, the 
success of the attempt to reach India remained still in 
doubt. King John, however, did allow some of his 
own subjects to try a voyage westward, but they re- 
turned without having found land. This is said to have 
made Columbus very angry, for he felt that he had been 
cheated. 



30 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTEE Y. 



COLUMBUS IN SPAIN. 



1485-U87. 



iranc< 



) J tall 



Columbus must have been very much disappointed 
when he was finally refused by King John, for Portugal 
was really the only country which was interested in dis- 
covery. But he was a persistent man, and he did not 
for a moment give up his plan. His brother Bartholo- 
mew had come to Portugal to try his fortunes with 
Christopher. Columbus now sent Bartholomew to pro- 
pose the plan to the King of England and the King of 

France, while he 
'y [ himself set out for 
Spain. Knowing 
that Spain was jeal- 
ous of the discov- 
eries of the Portu- 
guese, he hoped that 
the king and queen 
of this country 
would be pleased 
with the idea of outdoing her neighbor in the race for 
India. When Columbus left Portugal to seek his for- 
tunes in Spain, somewhere about the year 1485, he left 
his wife and several little children behind him. 

At the time when Columbus went to Spain it was 




MAP OF PORTUGAL, SPAIN, AND GENOA. 



COLUMBUS IN SPAIN. 



31 




PORTRAIT OF KING FERDINAND. 



governed by Ferdinand and Isabella. Before the time 
of this king and queen the country had been divided up 

into a great many king- 
doms, and there were all 
sorts of disorders, while 
the Moors, who had once 
conquered all Spain, were 
at war almost continually 
with the Christians. But 
when Ferdinand, w^ho was 
heir to the throne of Ara- 
gon, and Isabella, who 
became Queen of Castile, 
were married, and other 
small kingdoms came un- 
der their rule, Spain began to be, for the first time, 
a powerful country. Ferdinand and Isabella made it 
their chief work to conquer the 
Moors. At the time when Co- 
lumbus came to Spain the Moors 
had been driven intu the mount- 
ain kingdom of Granada, and 
here they were making their 
last stand against the Christians. 
King Ferdinand was a man 
of middle height, with muscles 
made hard and strong by exer- 
cises at arms. He had chestnut 
hair, a high forehead, w^hich was 
also a little bald, crooked teeth, 

and a face burned by constant exposure in war. His 
voice was sharp, and his speech quick. He dressed 




PORTRAIT OF QUEEN ISABELLA. 



32 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

very plainly, for both Ferdinand and Isabella disliked 
ostentation. AVhen Ferdinand once wished to reprove 
a courtier for dressing too finely, he laid his hand on 
his own doublet and said : 

" Excellent stuff this, it has lasted me three pairs of 
sleeves." 

Ferdinand was an able king, careful and business- 
like. But Queen Isabella was much more loved than 
he. Her complexion was fair, her hair auburn, and 
her eyes blue and kindly. She was thought to be very 
])eautiful. She was, when her religious bigotry was 
not aroused, a tender-hearted woman, and yet a queen 
of much ability and force. She governed her own 
kingdom, while Ferdinand governed his. During the 
wars with the Moors she sometimes busied herself with 
sending provisions to the army under command of the 
king, and sometimes rode into camp to encourage the sol- 
diers. Several suits of steel armor which Isabella wore 
have been kept to this day. She rode great distances 
on horseback, and sometimes, after spending the day 
in business, she would sit up all night dictating dis- 
patches. 

This great king and queen were so busy with their 
war against the ^Moors that it was very hard for Colum- 
bus to get them to listen to his plans or to think about 
them long at a time. The Spanish court was a camp 
which moved from place to place as the war went on, 
and Columbus had to follow it about. When he proposed 
his project to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella they 
called a council of the wisest men about the court to 
hear what the stranger had to say, and to decide whether 
it was possible to reach the islands of eastern Asia by 



COLUMBUS IN SPAIN. 33 

sailing to the west. The court was then at the city of 
Salamanca, and it was during the winter of 1486-'87. 

The council of wise men which listened to tlie reasons 
of Columbus for wishing to undertake so strange a voy- 
age did not think it could be done. Ferdinand and 
Isabella did not, however, entirely refuse to consider 
the plans of Columbus, for he still followed the court 
when it moved to the city of Cordova. The account 
book of the royal treasurer of those days has been found, 




SAT-AMANCA. 



in which it is set down that on May 5, 148T, three 
thousand marevedis were paid to Cristobal Colomo, for 
this is what Columbus was then called in Spain. The 
three thousand marevedis would be about seventy-fiv^e 
dollars, but we must not forget that money would buy 
a great deal more in those days than now. In this old 
account book Columbus is set down as a stranger " em- 
ployed in certain things for the service of their High- 
nesses." So we see that the poor foreigner who came 
to propose an unheard of project was treated with kind- 
ness. 



34 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

It is not known liow Columbus had earned his hving 
in Spain before this, though it is told by some that he 
made maps, and by others that he sold printed books. 
Printed books were a new thing in those days, for print- 
ing had not been very long invented, and Queen Isabella 
was very much interested in promoting this new art. 



COLUMBUS BEGS IN VAIN. 35 



CHAPTEK YI. 

COLUMBUS BEGS IN VAIN. 
U87-U9L 

For some years Columbus followed the Spanish 
court, trying to get the attention of the busy king and 
queen, who could not think long of anything but their 
war with the Moors. Sometimes he was noticed by 
great men at court. Quintanilla, the treasurer of the 
crown, pitied the poor foreigner, and gave him a home 
in his own house for a while. Diego de Deza, the 
bishop who taught the king's son, was kind to Columbus, 
and Juan Cabrero, who was first chamberlain to Ferdi- 
nand, befriended him. Sometimes the king and queen 
ordered money to be paid to him, or commanded the 
towns that he had to pass through in going to court to 
feed and lodge him. Still, there were times when 
Columbus was very poor and wore a shabby mantle. 
Many people laughed at his notions, and the very 
children are said to have pointed to their foreheads 
when he passed, to indicate that they thought him a 
crazy fellow. 

While Columbus was following the bustling court 
from place to place, his wife and all of his children, ex- 
cept one little l)oy named Diego, died in Portugal. Co- 
lumbus afterward had this little Diego with him in 
Sj^ain. He had also another little son, whom he called 
4 



36 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



Ferdinand. The mother of this child was named Beatriz 
Enriquez, and Hved in the city of Cordova. 

Cohnnbiis was present when the king laid siege to 
the Moorish city of Malaga, which was a rich and beauti- 
ful town, adorned with lovely gardens. The people of 
Malaga held out very obstinately, and in order that they 
might know that the Christian army had come to stay, 



■A' 











CHILDREN MOCKINtr COLl MIU s 



Queen Isabella rode into the camp and took up her 
abode there. It is not very likely that any one thought 
much about the plans of Columbus during this busy 
time, but he w^as there waiting as usual. The people of 



COLUMBUS BEGS IN VAIN. 37 

Malaga were finally starved out, the city surrendered, 
crosses and bells were put in the mosques, and the poor 
inhabitants were enslaved as a punishment for their 
stubborn courage. 

Every year some great city was besieged and taken. 
The next year, which was 1489, it was the Moorish city 
of Beza. There were floods and a great scarcity of food 
this year, and it was so hard to get money that Queen 
Isabella is said to have pawned the crown jewels and 
even the crown itself in order to carry on the war. 
The lack of money, the continuance of the war, and the 
great preparations for the wedding of the Princess Isa- 
bella, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, made it 
useless for Columbus to try to gain the attention of the 
sovereigns. Disheartened, he turned away from the 
Spanish court, intending to go to France or England to 
look for help. There was, however, in Spain, a noble- 
man called the Duke of Medina-Celi, who was himself 
almost a king, for he owned vessels and seaports, as well 
as great lands. This duke befriended Columbus in his 
time of discouragement. He took the poor foreigner 
into his own house to live, and kept him for two years 
among the many retainers that a great lord was accus- 
tomed to keep about him in those days. The duke was 
interested in the project of Columbus, and thought to 
let the stranger have three or four vessels at his own 
cost, since that was all he needed to try his novel voyage. 
The ships were made ready, but the duke dared not go 
into this undertaking without first letting the monarchs 
know about it. He wrote to the queen to ask her per- 
mission, but she declined to allow the duke to send out 
the ships on his own account. 



38 



THE STOHY OF COLUMBUS. 



Columbus returned to court. Perhaps he hoped 
that if the queen cared enough for his project to refuse 
to let a subject undertake it she would carry it out her- 
self. She did appoint the treasurer, Quintanilla, to ex- 
amine the proposal of Columbus. But the king and 
queen were making great preparations to lay siege to 
the city of Granada, and Columbus was once more for- 
gotten. He followed the Spanish court to the encamp- 










^- ^- V^' 







VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA ACROSS GRANADA. 



ment before Granada. Queen Isabella, dressed in 
armor, rode about the field on a beautiful horse, re- 
viewing her troops. Once the fine tent in which she 
slept caught fire, and the queen and her children were 
barely saved from burning. Because of this accident, 
and for the reason that winter was coming on, the 
queen resolved to build solid houses of stone and mortar 
for the encampment, so that there should be a city out- 
side of a city. In less than three months, the new city 



COLUMBUS BEGS IN VAIN. 39 

had sprung up, which was called Santa Fe, or Holy Faith. 
Amid all this tumult of work there was no hope for the 
poor Genoese. Columbus was out of money and dis- 
couraged. His brother Bartholomew had been to 
England, where Henry YII was king, and had got some 
encouragement there. He had then gone to France, 
where he was kindly received by Anne de Beaujeu, who 
governed for her young son, Charles VIII. So Colum- 
bus resolved to journey either to France or England, 
perhaps to both of these countries, and see what he 
could do. 



40 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTER YII. 

A' FRIENDLY MONK. 
U91. 

It was quite likely that Columbus would have to 
wait many years before he could prevail on the rulers 
of England or France to undertake his discovery. It 
was therefore necessary that he should provide for his 
children as well as a poor man could. Ferdinand Co- 
lumbus was very young yet, and might be left with his 
mother, but Columbus must find a home for Diego. He 
made up his mind to take him to tlie town of Huelva, 
where the child had an uncle and aunt, who could take 
care of him. 

Columbus and his little boy traveled on foot. He 
had almost reached the town of Huelva when he stopped 
one day at the monastery of La Rabida, and begged the 
porter to give him a little bread and water for the child. 
The prior of the convent, named Juan Perez, happened 
to see Columbus, and noticed that the poor stranger 
spoke Spanish with the accent of a foreigner. 

" Who are you, and where do you come from ? " asked 
the prior. 

"I have come," answered Columbus, "from the 
court, where I have been to propose certain maritime 
discoveries, engaging myself to make land at terra firina^ 
and demanding that they confide an expedition to me 



A FRIENDLY MONK. 



U 



for this purpose. But tlie men of the court have turned 
my projects into derision, saying they were nothing 
but air bubbles. Despairing of success, I have left the 
court, and am going to Huelva, to the house of a man 
named Muliar, husband of a sister of my wife." 

The good monk wanted to hear what the plan of 
Columbus was. So he invited him into the monastery, 




WITH JUAN PEREZ AT THE MONASTERY. 



and made him tell his story. Then he sent for a certain 
doctor of medicine, named Garcia Hernandez, who lived 
near by, in the town of Palos. This doctor knew some- 



42 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

thing of the science of astronomy, and astronomy had 
much to do with geography in tliose days, for it was 
still rather a strange thing to believe that the world was 
round, and it took something of an astronomer to have 
faith in such an opinion. 

The shabby stranger, the monk, and the doctor had 
a long talk together, which ended in the monk's believ- 
ing in the possibility of the bold project of Colum- 
bus. This same Juan Perez had once been confessor 
to Queen Isabella. So he wrote a letter to the queen, 
begging her not to let Columbus leave Spain from dis- 
couragement. A pilot, named Sebastian Rodriguez, 
carried the letter to court, while Columbus and the 
little Diego stayed in the friendly convent. After 
fourteen days, Rodriguez came back with an answer 
from the queen, asking Juan Perez to come to court 
and talk with her. So the good Perez saddled his mule 
and set off secretly in the night to the court, which was 
still in the city of Santa Fe, before Granada. 

We do not know why Juan Perez made his journey 
so privately, nor what he said to the queen when he saw 
her once more, but we know that his friendship was 
worth more to Columbus than the friendship of all the 
great courtiers who had been kind to him at different 
times. The queen sent Perez back for Columbus, and 
at the same time she sent the navigator about seventy- 
two dollars, which would be the same in value as two 
hundred and sixteen dollars in our day. With part of 
this money Columbus made haste to buy some decent 
clothes and a mule, while he kept the rest to pay his 
traveling expenses. He and Juan Perez journeyed 
back to Santa Fe together with light hearts. 



A FRIENDLY MONK. 



43 



After they readied court, Queen Isabella appointed 
a conference of learned men to decide once more about 
the scheme of Columbus. There was a great discussion 
among these men. As for sailing partly around the 



'.^lufe^^^Til^y-.?^ 



.^f 




A WINDOW IN THE ALHAMBRA, 



world, some did not think it could be done and others 
were in favor of trying it. The Church fathers were 
quoted to prove that there could be no human beings 
living on the opposite side of the earth. According to 



THE STORY OP COLUMBUS. 

their notions, the people of Europe lived on the top of 
the ball and it was impossible for men to exist on the 
other side of the world, since they would have to walk 



^'5 -^^^ 



'''*«'''^«^»*^ =' 




'^\\W]W'' ' 




^s^^^w^^^i^- ti^^ 



'-T^r^ 



^'LjS^'^, 



GATEWAY OF GRANADA. 



upside down. How was it possible for trees to grow 
with their roots above them, and how eould it ram and 
snow upward ? So strong was the notion that they lived 
on the top of the earth that, years after, Columbus was 



A FRIENDLY MONK. 45 

said to have discovered "a considerable portion of the 
lower world." 

In the midst of this assembly sat Cardinal Mendoza, 
who was called the Third King of Spain, because he was 
so powerful. Just behind him sat Geraldini, the bishop 
who taught the royal children. Geraldini remarked to 
the great cardinal that the Church fathers were no 
doubt excellent theologians, but only mediocre geogra- 
phers, since the Portuguese had reached a point in the 
other hemisphere where they could no longer see the 
polar star, and had discovered another star at the south 
pole, and yet they had found all the countries situated 
under the torrid zone perfectly peopled. 

- The great cardinal favored the project of Columbus, 
and so did most of the assembly. About this time the 
city of Granada surrendered, and the war with the 
Moors was at an end. The flag of Spain floated from 
the highest tower of the beautiful palace called the Al- 
hambra. Columbus saw Boabdil, the last of the Moor- 
ish kings, come forth and kiss the hands of Ferdinand 
and Isabella, and of the young prince Juan, who was 
heir to the throne. Ferdinand and Isabella had made 
themselves the greatest sovereigns in Christendom, but 
they never once imagined that the discoveries of this 
poor Genoese weaver, who had so long followed their 
court and waited disconsolately in their ante-rooms, 
would add more to the glory of their reign than their 
great Moorish conquest. 



46 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTER YIIL 

GETTING READY FOE THE VOYAGE. 



It was in the very beginning of the year 1492, after 
he had waited seven years in Spain, that Queen Isabella 
agreed to send Columbus to seek a new way to India. 
But there was still another disappointment in store for 
the ambitious adventurer. He asked great rewards — the 
titles of admiral and viceroy and a share in the profits 
arising from all the discoveries he should make. This 
was too much, and Columbus would take nothing less, 
so he turned his back once more on the Spanish court, 
resolved to go immediately to France. After he had 
gone, Luis de Santangel, an officer of King Ferdinand's 
Kingdom of Arragon, is said to have remonstrated with 
Queen Isabella for letting such an opportunity slip. 
The queen relented, and a courier was sent to bring 
back the disappointed Columbus as he rode slowly 
away on his mule So the poor man with the grand 
projects returned to court once more, and this time no 
objections were made to his demands. 

There was some trouble about raising money enough 
to send Columbus on his voyage. The queen wished 
him to wait until the Moors were expelled from Spain, 
when the treasury would be filled with the money taken 
from the conquered people. But Columbus would 



GETTING READY FOR THE VOYAGE. 47 

wait no longer. There is a storj that Queen Isabella 
offered to raise the money that was needed by pawning 
her jewels, but this is not probable, since the queen's 
jewels had been already pawned, it is thought, to carry 
on the war. At this moment, when the plans of 
Columbus were likely to fail for want of a little money, 
Luis de Santangel offered to lend the money to the 
queen. 

It would seem that King Ferdinand did not believe 
in the project of Columbus, for he did not share in the 
undertaking, and for some time after the discovery of 
America only the Castilians, who were Isabella's own 
subjects, were allowed to send ships there. 

At last the papers were signed. Columbus was to 
have the title of admiral and the office of viceroy over 
the lands that he should discover. He was to have a 
tenth part of the gold, precious stones, pearls, silver, 
spices, and other articles found in these lands, and if 
he bore an eighth part of the expenses he was to have 
an eighth part of the profits of all the voyages made, 
while he and his family were to have the title of Don, 
which was a great honor in those days, something like 
the title of Lord in English. 

After all the long delays and the many doubts as to 
whether it was best to undertake this famous first voy- 
age of Columbus, it cost Queen Isabella only about 
sixty thousand dollars. Columbus furnished one of 
the three small ships which were to sail, and so did his 
share toward the expenses. We do not know who it 
was that lent to Columbus the money to do this, for he 
was certainly too poor to do it himself. 

The little town of Palos, which was near the monas- 



48 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

tery of La Rabida, had done something for which it 
was punished by being obhged to furnish tAvo ships 
every year to the crown. So the order was now given 
that Palos should turn over its two ships to Columbus. 
The royal order was read in the church of St. George 
in Palos to the officers of the town and many of the 
people. They promised to furnish the ships without 
any trouble, but wdien it was found that they were to 
sail into unknown seas there was great horror. The 
owners of the vessels thought that they w^ould certainly 
lose their ships, while common sailors refused to go on 
any such voyage. When courtiers and learned men 
were so uncertain about the undertaking, it is not 
strange that it was altogether terrible to ignorant peo- 
ple. Some of the men at court are said to have thought 
that when Columbus had once sailed west, he would 
find the roundness of the earth like a mountain, which 
he could not sail up again to come home. The sailors 
of Palos probably knew nothing about the earth being 
round, but they had many strange beliefs about the Sea 
of Darkness, as the Atlantic was called, and they thought 
that they would never see Spain again if they ventured 
off in this waste of waters. 

When Queen Isabella heard of this new difficulty, 
she sent a royal officer to see that ships were pressed 
into the service, and oifered to let criminals out of the 
prisons if they would sail on the dreaded voyage. But 
still there was a great deal of trouble to get ships and 
men. A family of bold seamen, called Pinzon, took an 
interest in the expedition, however, and went to a great 
deal of trouble to find men to go as sailors. 

At last ships were found. Two of them were of 



GETTING READY FOR THE VOYAGE. 49 

the kind of vessel called caravels, and were not any 
larger than the small craft which one sees to-day sailing 
in rivers or coasting. Only 

the largest of them was decked \'":^'^^'^^^t^-^^^^ 

over, the others were merely ^-k T^ IzZi 

open sailing boats, with cabins X^'^Wm^Jmr 

built on the bow and stern, ^^f"-,^^^?^ 

one being a very small craft ,1 -^^^ 1 ' i ' j ^^^ 
with lateen sails. There was "^"^^tal^^^L ^^£ 
a great deal of trouble before ^'^^^^^^^^^fe-^ 
the ships could be got ready. a caravel. 

The men who calked them did 

it badly and then ran away ; some of the sailors de- 
serted and concealed themselves ; the owners of the 
vessels were also willing to put obstacles in the way of 
the voyage. 

But everything was ready by the beginning of 
August, 1492. Columbus was to sail in the largest 
ship, which was called the Santa Maria, that is Holy 
Mary, or as it was sometimes called The Marigalante, 
which means The Gallant Mary. This ship belonged 
to a man named Juan de la Cosa, wdio went along in 
command of her. The second ship, which was the best 
sailer, w^as called the Pinta. Her captain was Martin 
Alonzo Pinzon, one of the family who had helped Co- 
lumbus to lit out for the voyage, while another Pinzon 
was pilot. This ship belonged to two men of Palos, 
named Gomes Rascon and Cristobal Quintero. These 
two owners also sailed in their ship, as though they 
could not bear to part company with their property on 
so dangerous an expedition, and, in fact, they meant to 
take the first opportunity to fetch the vessel back to 



50 THE STOliY OF COLUMBUS. 

Spain. The smallest ship, called the Nina, was com- 
manded bj another of the bold Pinzon family. The 
sailors were a very mixed lot. Some of them were re- 
leased prisoners, who would rather risk the horrors of 
unknown seas than take their punishment at home ; and 
we find that there was even one Englishman and one 
Irishman in the motley company. 

Before Columbus sailed he placed his two little boys, 
Diego and Ferdinand, at school in the city of Cordova. 
Diego was appointed a jDage to Prince Juan, the son of 
the king and queen. This was an honor which was 
usually granted only to the children of noble houses. 
The little Diego, who was probably about ten years old 
at this time, had to be sent to school for two years be- 
fore he was fit to go to court and serve as page to a 
prince. 

Every one who was to sail on the expedition took 
the sacrament before going. There were about ninety 
people in all. Letters were sent from the King and 
Queen of Spain, addressed to the Grand Khan, or Em- 
peror of China, whom Columbus expected, without 
doubt, to find. An interpreter was provided who was 
supposed to speak Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Cop- 
tic, and Armenian, for no one thought of anything but 
of the possibility of reaching Eastern lands. There was 
a sad parting at Palos, for the friends of those who 
sailed had little hope of ever seeing them again. The 
three little ships got under way at half an hour before 
sunrise on the morning of the 3d of August, 1492. 



THE FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS. 51 



CHAPTEK IX. 

THE FIEST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS. 
lJfJ92. 

No doubt it was a moment of relief to Columbus 
wLen he found himself fairly at sea, where his men 
could not desert nor ship owners make any more delays ; 
but the ship owners were with him, and his joy was 
short-lived. Kascon and Quintero, the proprietors of 
the Pinta, contrived, it is said, to have her rudder 
broken and unhung. The Pinta made signals of dis- 
tress and the fleet was detained in a high sea. Martin 
Alonzo Pinzon, who was captain of the Pinta, tied the 
rudder with ropes, but it gave way again next day. 
There was nothing to do but to stop at the Canary 
Islands. Columbus tried to get another ship here, but 
as he could not do this he had the Pinta repaired, and 
at the same time had the lateen sails of the Nina changed 
so that she could keep up with the other ships. 

Columbus spent about three weeks at the Canary 
Islands. AVhile there he heard that some Portuguese 
ships were seen hovering oif Ferro Island. Afraid 
that the Portuguese had heard of his ex^^edition and 
that they might try to intercept him, Columbus got 
away as quickly as possible. For two days he lay be- 
calmed, how^ever, between the islands of Gomara and 
Tenerife. The sailors watched the volcano of Tenerife 
5 



52 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



smoking day and night. They had never seen anything 
of the sort before, and the sight is said to have awak- 
ened many fears, but Cohimbns explained it to them 
and told them about Mount Etna. 

On the 8th of September, at three o'clock in the 
morning, the wind sprang up and the three little ships 
were at length off for the Kew World. When they 
saw the last of the Canaries the sailors sighed and 
sobbed, for they thought they were doomed men ; but 




PEAK OF TENERIFE. 



Columbus talked to them about the great countries to 
which they were sailing, and inflamed their minds by 
the promise of riches for them all. He saw that he was 
in danger of failing because his men were faint-hearted, 
so he did everything that he could to encourage them. 
He kept two reckonings of the distance the ships had 
sailed — one for the sailors, which he made every day 
some leagues shorter than the actual distance, and a se- 
cret reckoning for himself, which gave the true dis- 



THE FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS. 53 

tance made. He did this because he knew that the 
men would be disheartened if they knew how far they 
were from home. 

Three days after the ships left the Canary Islands a 
piece of a mast was picked up. It had lain long in the 
water, and seemed to have belonged to some large ship. 
Perhaps some vessel had tried these seas before and 
been lost. The men did not like the looks of this. 
Three days later Columbus noticed that the needle of 
the compass did not point directly toward the north 
star. He had never heard of the variation of the 
needle, now so well known to all mariners, and he was 
at a loss to understand it as many learned men have 
been since. In a few days the pilots noticed it and 
were anxious, for if the compass should fail them in this 
unknown ocean what w^ould they do ? But Columbus 
had invented a theory to explain it, and made use of it 
to reassure the pilots. 

The fleet presently entered the region of the trade 
winds which blow steadily from east to west, following 
the course of the sun. The ships were blown gently 
westward, while the air was so sweet and mild that Co- 
lumbus said it would have been like April in Andalusia 
or southern Spain if one might but have heard the song 
of the nightingale. A heron and a water-wagtail flew 
over the vessels and rejoiced the hearts of the men, for 
they thought that these birds would not fly far away 
from land. 

The ships at length began to sail past great patches 
of green and yellow weeds floating on the water. Sure- 
ly these weeds must have come from some island or 
reef. On one of the patches Columbus found a live 



54 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

crab. He kept it very carefully, for it was encouraging 
to see life in this great waste of waters. When night 
came on the sliips plowed through schools of tunny fish, 
and the sailors amused themselves by throwing the har- 
poon at them. The crew of the Nina succeeded in kill- 
ing one of these fish with a harpoon. 

The smallest things were noticed on this first advent- 
urous voyage. At three hundred and sixty leagues 



.TlHanric Ocean 



0C7Rcut|]C. 



Canary J 







THE CANARY ISLANDS AND THE AZORES 



from the Canaries another water-wagtail was seen. The 
weather continued to be mild. There w^as a gentle 
breeze, while Columbus said that the sea was as calm as 
the river Guadahjuiver at Seville. The Pinta, being the 
best sailer, pushed ahead. Presently she waited for the 
admiral's ship, and Pinzon, who was lier captain, called 
out that he had seen a great many birds flying toward 



THE FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS. 55 

the sunset and also that he had seen land covered with 
clouds to the north ; but Columbus would not turn out 
of his course to look for land, though his men wanted 
him to. He believed in land to the west, and he did not 
wish to waste his time in sailing hither and thither. 
The wind began to freshen and the sailors had to short- 
en sail for the first time in a dozen days. 

The next day there were drizzling showers, Tvhich 
Columbus thought were a sign that land was near. 
Two pelicans lit on the ships, and he told his men that 
these birds did not often fly twenty leagues from shore. 
Perhaps the ships were passing between islands, but 
still Columbus would not change his course. He sound- 
ed, however, with a line two hundred fathoms long, but 
there w^as no bottom, and this certainly did not look as 
though land were near. 

The men had for a long time been discontented in 
spite of drizzling showers, weeds, live crabs, and water- 
wagtails. They were long out of sight of land, no 
other ships had ever sailed in these seas, so that there 
was no hope of rescue if they got into trouble. 
They did not like it that the wind blew always from 
the stern of the ship, for if the wind blew always one 
way how were they to reach home when they turned 
about? Then, too, they were afraid that the ships 
might be caught in one of those great flelds of tangled 
weeds as they had heard of ships being caught in frozen 
seas. 

It is not strange that the sailors were frightened. 
Many of them had been forced into this most audacious 
sea adventure that the w^orld had ever kno\^'n. Each 
day that they were disappointed in looking for land 



56 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

they thought how much fartlier they were from liome. 
They had ah^eady sailed quite far enough to have made 
theirs one of the most wonderful of voyages. 

One day there was a light wind blowing from the 
southwest, which was lucky for Columbus, for it proved 
that the wind did not always come from the east. 
Three little birds, which the men thought must have 
come from groves or orchards, lit singing on the masts 
in the morning and flew away again at night. Big 
birds, it was thought, might fly very far out to sea, but 
it was impossible that these tiny creatures would vent- 
ure very far. Still, no land was seen and the breezes 
from the southwest were so light that they scarcely ruf- 
fled the water. The men began to complain that they 
could never reach home with such feeble winds. Co- 
lumbus tried to encourage them ; but when he had be- 
gun to be afraid that he could not restrain them much 
longer, there came up a great wind from the northwest, 
and the sea was quite rough enough to satisfy any one 
that the wind did not always blow^ from one quarter. 

This same day a dove flew over the ships, and to- 
ward evening the men saw a pelican, a little river bird, 
and a white bird. There were also several live crabs 
on the floating weeds, and they discovered fishes swim- 
ming about the ships. Columbus made the most of 
every sign that land was near, but, under such circum- 
stances, men grew tired of signs. The sailors began to 
say to one another that the admiral was a foreigner, 
who, for the mere fancy of making himself a great 
name and being called Don, made a game of exposing 
tliem to the greatest dangers and leading them to cer- 
tain death. If Columbus would not consent to return, 



THE FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS. 57 

they might throw him in the sea, and say that he liad 
fallen in while gazing at the stars, as was his habit. 

Meantime the wind was favorable again on the 25th 
of September and the air was soft and mild. The ves- 
sels sailed near each other, while Columbus talked with 
Pinzon, the captain of the Pinta, about the map which 
Columbus had brought with him and which Pinzon had 
borrowed a day or two before. Pinzon thought that 
they might now be near Japan. Columbus agreed with 
him, but thought that the currents of the ocean might 
have carried the ships out of their course. He wished 
to look at the map again. Pinzon tied a rope to it and 
threw it on board the admiral's ship. While Columbus 
and his pilot were studying the map, Pinzon, who was 
standing on the high stern of the Pinta, shouted : 

" Land ! land ! Sefior, I claim my reward ! " 

The reason that Pinzon said this was that the king 
and queen had offered a velvet coat and a pension to 
the one who should first see land ; but he who gave a 
false alarm could not claim the reward again. The caj)- 
tain of the Pinta pointed to the southwest. Yes, every 
one saw land there. Columbus threw himself on his 
knees and thanked God. It was growing dark, so he 
ordered that the ships should head toward the land in 
the night; but in the morning there was no land to 
be seen. Pinzon had been deceived again by sunset 
clouds. 

The ships sailed on with a soft wind and a calm sea. 
In spite of their disappointment the sailors amused 
themselves by swimming about the ships. The men 
began to see dolphins, while flying fish fell on the decks 
of the ships. Four water-wagtails lit on the admiral's 



58 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

ship. So many birds of a kind, said Columbus, would 
not have ventured far from land. The Nina was the 
next to discover land, but it was again a false alarm. 
There began to be great flocks of birds flying over the 
ships. The sailors, however, were disheartened and 
would hear no more of signs. They had been a month 
out of sight of land, always on the lookout, and yet the 
sun rose day after day out of the boundless water and 
set again in the ocean. At sunset Columbus noticed 
that the birds all flew toward the southwest as though 
they were going to their roosting place, which must be 
on land. Remembering that the Portuguese had often 
found land by following the flight of the birds at sun- 
set, Columbus changed his course to the southwest. 

The 11th of October came. The air was sweet with 
land odors, fresh weeds floated by the ships, wdiile the 
men saw a kind of green fish which lives about rocks. 
But, better than all, they picked u^ a thorny branch 
with red berries growing on it which was freshly 
broken from the tree. Then, too, they found a reed, a 
small board, and a stick which had been carved by 
hand. Even the discontented men could not doubt 
that land was near. In the evening, after all hands 
had sung the jSalve Regina as usual, Columbus made 
his men a little speech, in which he told them how good 
God had been to bring them so far safely, telling them 
that as they had that day seen such sure signs of land 
they had better keep a lookout during the night. 



LAND AT LAST. 59 



CHAPTER X. 

LAND AT LAST. 
U92. 

No eyes were closed on board the three Httle ships 
that night. The Pinta pushed ahead as usuaL All 
were eagerly on the lookout. About ten o'clock, Co- 
lumbus, who was standing on the high poop of his ship, 
saw a faint, trembling light. It appeared and disaj)- 
peared, as though it might ])e a torch in a fisherman's 
boat which was being tossed up and down on the water, 
or perhaps a small candle being carried from one house 
to another on land. At two o'clock in the morning a 
gun was fired by the Pinta. A sailor on board this 
ship had seen land. The sails were now furled and the 
men spent the hours till dayhght in rejoicings. Colum- 
bus must have been the happiest of them all. The poor 
weaver had made himself one of the greatest of men by 
the success of this voyage. 

It was the 12th of October, 1492. After having 
been thirty-three days out of sight of land, Columbus 
and his men saw at daylight a low island covered with 
beautiful tropical trees, blooming and bearing fruit at 
a time "of the year when the leaves were falling in 
Spain. It is not known to-day which island in the 
West Indies is the one at which Columbus first landed. 
It is a question between Watling's Island, Grand Turk 



60 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

Island, Cat Island, Mayaquana, Samana, and Acklin's 
Island. 

It was soon evident that the island was peopled, for 
men were seen running out of the woods to look at the 
ships. The Spaniards were, no doubt, too much de- 
lighted to see green land once more to be disappointed 



Son Sctluador 



fflXJonlncj'sIi. 







C^ 



Cuba 







MAP SHOWING THE ISLANDS AT WHICH COLUMBUS LANDED. 

when they found that these men were naked, and that 
nothing was to be seen of the magnificent cities of 
Japa.n. 

The ships' boats were manned, and the Spaniards 
made haste to the shore, carrying the flags of the expedi- 
tion, which had a green cross on one side and the initials 
of Ferdinand and Isabella, surmounted by crowns, on 
the other side. Columbus had dressed himself richly in 
scarlet for this great occasion. When the boats touched 
shore, admiral and men leaped out, threw themselves on 



LAND AT LAST. 



61 



the earth, and kissed it. Columbus, when he had 
arisen, solemnly took possession of the island in the 
name of the king and queen and called it San Salvador, 
or Holy Saviour. He was then greeted by his men as 




OLD PRINT OF 1500, SHOWING COLUMBUS LANDING AND THE KING OF SPAIN 
SENDING SHIPS ACROSS TO AMERICA. 



viceroy of this new world, and they humbly begged 
his pardon for any offenses they had given him during 
the voyage. 

The naked Indians assisted at the ceremony by star- 



02 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

ing very hard, having not the smallest idea that their 
country was being taken possession of. It is said that 
when the natives first saw the ships in the early morn- 
ing, they thought them some kind of strange animal. 
Now, however, they imagined that these men had come 
down from the sky by means of the wings which they 
saw on their ships. After they had got a little used 
to the strangers they came near them, touching their 
beards, and wondering at the whiteness of their hands 
and faces. Columbus was pleased with the gentle, sim- 
ple ways of these islanders. He gave them red caps, 
necklaces of glass beads, and other such things as the 
Portuguese used in trading with the negroes of Guinea. 
The Indians were delighted with their gifts, and made 
haste to put the strings of beads around their necks to 
enjoy the effect. 

After resting on shore all day, Columbus and his 
men returned to their ships. Meantime the news was 
spreading among the natives, and each one was anxious 
to get some treasure of the men from the skies before 
they flew away again in their winged boats. They pad- 
dled up to the fleet in canoes or swam out, bringing 
live parrots and great balls of cotton yarn to exchange 
for anything the white men would give them. They 
were ready to give the few gold ornaments they had for 
a piece of broken dish, a scrap of glass, an end of a 
strap, or a bit of a barrel hoop ; but Columbus would 
not let his men trade with the Indians for anything less 
valuable than beads or bells. When night came the In- 
dians disappeared, only to swarm about the ships again 
when day returned. Their canoes were made of the 
trunks of trees hollowed out. They turned over very 



LAND AT LAST. 63 

easily, but this did not trouble the natives, for they had 
no clothes to wet, and they swam about in the warm 
water until they could right their boats once more, bal- 
ing the water out with calabashes. After a day or two 
the Indians began to feel themselves at home on the 
ships, and those who had nothing to trade would seize 
some trifle which had taken their fancy and, jumping 
overboard, swim ashore with it. 

Columbus explored the coast of the island for some 
distance in the ships' boats. As the white men coasted 
the island, natives came out from the woods to see 
them, and ran along shore after them, offering them 
food and trying to get them to come to land. As they 
did not do this, the Indians swarmed about them in 
canoes or swam to them, making signs to them to know 
whether they had come down from the sky. Colum- 
bus was pleased with their simplicity, and gave them 
pins and other trinkets, with which they were highly 
delighted. After exploring part of the shore of the 
island, he resolved to push on for China or Japan. 

Marco Polo had said that there were over seven 
thousand islands extending along the coast of Asia, 
where spices and scented woods grew. Columbus 
thought that he must be among these islands, and it 
only remained to find Japan, or the country of the 
Grand Khan — that is, China. Columbus asked the In- 
dians where they got their gold ornaments, and, as they 
pointed toward the southwest and seemed to say some- 
thing about a great monarch who used dishes of gold, 
he decided to go in search of this desirable king. Co- 
lumbus carried away seven of the natives of San Salva- 
dor to teach them Spanish and make use of them as in- 



64 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



terpreters. He noticed that these men were not nearly 
so dark as the negroes of Africa, while their hair was 
not curly, but flowing. Some of them were covered 
with red, white, and black paint, others were only colored 
about the eyes and nose. 




A CALABASH. 



EXPLORING IN THE WEST INDIES. 65 



CHAPTER XI. 

EXPLORING IN THE WEST INDIES. 
U02. 

Columbus could see many islands from his ship, and 
it was hard to decide which one to visit first. His In- 
dian guides seemed to say by signs that at a neighbor- 
ing island the natives wore bracelets and anklets of gold, 
so Columbus sailed for this. He landed and took pos- 
session with the same ceremonies that he had used on 
San Salvador, calling the island Santa Maria. Santa 
Maria proved to be very much like the first one ; the 
natives were quite as much astonished, they were quite 
as naked, and gold was quite as scarce. So Columbus 
decided to proceed to another and much larger island. 
As the ships were about to sail, one of his Indian guides, 
who was on board the Nina, seeing that the white men 
were going so far away from his home on San Salvador, 
jumped into tlie water and swam to a canoe full of 
natives which was near. The sailors gave chase, but the 
Indians were too quick for them. They paddled ashore 
and ran into tlie woods, while the men took their re- 
venge by capturing their canoe and tieing it behind the 
IS'ina. Columbus regretted this incident, since he did 
not want the Indians to be afraid of the white men. A 
canoe was approaching the ships from another part of 
the island with one native in it. This fellow was com- 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



ing to trade a ball of cotton yarn for some liawk's shells. 
He stopped when he got near the ships, and seemed 
afraid to come nearer. Two or three sailors jumped 
overboard and captured him. Columbus stood on the 
poop of his ship. He ordered the Indian to be brought 
to him. The poor fellow came trembling and holding 
out his ball of yarn as an offering. But Columbus put 
a red cap on his head, strings of green beads about his 
arms, and hung little bells on his ears. He then had 
the fellow put in his canoe with his ball of cotton yarn 
and set free. He also made the sailors of the Nina let 
the canoe go that they liad captured, so that the Indians 
to whom it belonged might find it again. 

The ships now made for the larger island, and pres- 
ently they ran across an Indian alone in a canoe, pad- 
dling across the wide gulf between the islands. He had 
a little cassava bread, which was the chief food of these 




INDIAN PADDLING IN A DUG-OUT. 



people, and a gourd of water for supplies. He had also 
a little red earth with which to paint himself on his ar- 
rival, and some dry leaves, which the white men thought 
were medicine. It is quite likely that they were leaves 
of tobacco. He wore a string of the white men's beads 
around his neck, and was no doubt paddling to other 



EXPLORING IN THE WEST INDIES. 67 

islands to astonish the natives with his finery, and to 
tell the story of how he had got it. As he seemed tired 
with paddling so far, the Spaniards took him on board, 
canoe and all. They fed him on bread, honey, and 
wine. The sea was so calm that the fleet did not reach 
the large island nntil night. The ships lay to until 
morning, bnt they put out the Indian boatman with his 
canoe, his treasures, and some presents, which Columbus 
had given him. He paddled ashore, and soon spread 
the news of the kindness of these strangers. The natives 
began coming out to the ships in the night, bringing 
fruit, roots, and spring water. Columbus gave them 
trinkets, and when any of them came on board, he gave 
him sugar and honey to eat, sweets being a great novelty 
to the Indians. 

Columbus named the island Fernandina, for the king. 
The people of this island sometimes wore a cotton mantle 
over the shoulders, or a sort of apron tied around the 
waist. Their houses were circular bowers, made of 
branches, reeds, and palm leaves. Under these tent-like 
roofs were nets made of cotton cord, stretched from one 
post to another, for beds. The Indians called these beds 
hamacs^ and so it is from these simple people that we 
get our hammock, even to the name. 

The admiral sailed along the shore of Fernandina. 
While the men landed to fill their water barrels, Co- 
lumbus went ashore and walked about. The great 
tropical forests filled him with admiration. " The coun- 
try," said he, ^' was as fresh as the month of May in 
Andalusia ; the trees, the fruits, the herbs, the flowers, 
the very stones, for the most part, as different from 
those of Spain as night is from day." The Indians 



gg THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

made haste to till the casks for their visitors from cool 
springs or little brooks. 

Columbus sailed away from Fernandina in search of 
an island whicli the Indians described by signs as hav- 
ing a gold mine, and also a king who dressed in fine 
stuffs and wore golden ornaments. He discovered an 
island which he called Isabella. '' There came off a 
fragrance," said Columbus, " so good and soft of the 
flowers and trees of the land that it w^as the sweetest 
thing in the world." He landed on this island without 
finding any sign of either gold mine or king, but he 
was delighted with the country. " I know not where 
first to go," he said, " nor are my eyes ever w^eary of 
gazing on the beautiful verdure. The singing of the 
birds is such that it seems as if one would never desire 
to depart hence. There are flocks of parrots which 
darken the sun, and other birds, large and small, of so 
many kinds and so different from ours that it is w^on- 
derf ul ; and, besides, there are trees of a thousand spe- 
cies, each having its particular fruit and all of a marvel- 
ous flavor, so that I am in the greatest trouble in the 
world because I do not know them, for I am very cer- 
tain that they are each of great value." Columbus did 
not doubt that many of these strange growths which he 
saw would be much prized in Spain for medicines and 
spices. He thought that he was in the East Indies, 
where valuable herbs and well-known spices grow. He 
did not fancy for a moment that he was in a new world 
where the plants were strange to Europeans, who had 
yet to learn their use and value. 

When the admiral asked the Indians of this island 
where gold w^as to be found, they pointed south and 



EXPLORING IN THE WEST INDIES. 69 

said something about a large island called Cuba. He un- 
derstood by tlieir signs that there were gold, pearls, and 
spices there, and that large ships came there to trade. 
These, he made no doubt, were the ships of the Grand 
Khan, and the island must be Cipango or Japan. Co- 
lumbus thought to sail there and load up with gold and 
precious stones. He purposed then to sail to China, 
where he would deliver his letters to the Grand Khan, 
and return in triumph into Spain. 



70 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTER XII, 

COLUMBUS VISITS CUBA. 
U92. 

When Columbus neared the northern coast of Cuba 
he found that it was very large, with high mountains, 
beautiful valleys, and line rivers. He landed in the 
mouth of one of these rivers and named the island 
Juana, after the little Spanish prince Juan, in whose 
suite his son Diego was to be a page. Two cabins 
stood near the place at which the Spaniards landed. 
The people who lived in them fled into the forest when 
they saw the strange visitors approaching. On examin- 
ing the cabins the seamen found nothing in them but 
some nets made of palm-tree fibers and harpoons made 
of bone. Columbus forbade his men touching any of 
these things. 

Cuba was the most beautiful of all the islands that 
had yet been discovered. The lofty trees were covered 
with a fine foliage, laden with beautiful blossoms or 
fruit, and peopled with birds of brilliant hue. Colum- 
bus did not doubt that the sweet odors filling the air 
came from spice trees. He believed that there were 
gold mines in the interior and that the oysters which he 
saw in the water bore pearls. 

The admiral coasted along the shore of Cuba, uncer- 
tain whether it was the island of Japan or the mainland 



COLUMBUS VISITS CUBA. Yl 

of China. He visited a village, but the terrified people 
fled to the mountains. The houses at this place were bet- 
ter built than any Indian cabins he had seen before, and he 
found in them rude wood carvings and masks. Colum- 
bus, ever hopeful, now^ felt sure that he would soon dis- 
cover signs of a more advanced civilization, and be- 
lieved that he was nearing an important kingdom. 
These people, he fancied, might prove to be tribes of 
poor fishermen living on the coast and selling their fish 
at cities in the interior. He presently found what he 
took to be skulls of cows, which proved to his satisfac- 
tion that there w^ere cattle in Cuba, but they were in 
reality the skulls of what is known as the sea cow. 

The Spaniards reached at length a large cape which 
was covered with palms. Three of the San Salvador 
Indians told Pinzon that behind this cape was a river 
which led to a country called Cuba-nacan, where there 
was much gold. In their language Cuba-nacan meant 
middle Cuba, nacan meaning middle ; but Pinzon was 
cei'tain that Cuba-nacan was Kublai Khan, the Emperor 
of China. If this were true this beautiful country 
would prove to be not Japan, but the mainland of 
China. The Spaniards set out to look for the river 
beyond the cape ; but there was no river there, and 
contrary winds set in so that the ships had to turn 
back. 

It Avas now the 1st of November. Columbus sent 
some men ashore to see the natives ; but the Indians 
ran away as soon as the w^hite men landed. When 
the Spaniards returned to their boats, the natives came 
back and stared at them from the shore. Columbus, 
who had learned his Marco Polo pretty well by heart, 



Y2 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

remembered that the Grand Khan was in the habit 
of sending ships to capture the natives of the islands 
for slaves. No doubt this was one of the islands 
visited by the slave ships of the Khan, and hence the 
reason for the alarm of the natives at the sight of ves- 
sels. With this idea in his head, Columbus sent one of 
his Indians ashore in a boat, charging him to tell the 
natives that the Spaniards were peaceable and that they 
had nothing to do with the Grand Khan. As the Indi- 
an interpreter knew nothing of the Grand Khan and 
little of the Spanish tongue, he probably said that the 
white men were good people and very generous in giv- 
ing away some very desirable articles, such as beads and 
bells. At any rate, he made a speech to the natives 
from the ship's boats, and then jumped out and swam 
ashore. Before night, sixteen canoes came out to the 
ships. The Indians brought cotton yarn and other 
such things to trade ; but Columbus forbade trading for 
anything except gold, thinking he could in this way 
make the Indians bring out their hidden treasures. 
They really had nothing of value, however, except a sil- 
ver nose ornament which one of them wore. These 
people said that their king lived inland, and that they 
had sent messengers to him to let him know of the 
presence of the white men. 

Columbus thought that this must be some petty mon- 
arch, so he concluded to send messengers himself to find 
out how rich he was, and what he knew about the Grand 
Khan. He sent one Spaniard, one converted Jew, and 
two Indians on this errand. The Jew was sent because 
he could speak Hebrew, and some other Eastern tongues. 
As Columbus believed that he was on the coast of Asia, 



COLUMBUS VISITS CUBA. 73 

he thought it likely that the Jew would be able to talk 
with the king of this country. The messengers were 
to ask the distance to certain seaports in Asia, and were 
to show cinnamon, nutmegs, cloves, peppers, rhubarb, 
and so forth, to the king, and lind out if these things 
grew here. 

Columbus had his ships careened and calked while 
he was waiting for his messengers to return. He showed 
the Indians who hung around him gold and pearls. 
They used the word hohio, and sometimes habeque, when 
they saw gold. Some old fellows told Columbus that 
there was a country where the people wore such things 
in their ears and around their necks. They also told 
about people who had one eye, and others who had 
dogs' heads. Perhaps they believed these tales them- 
selves, but it is also possible that they only wished to 
give the white men some stories large enough to suit 
them, or that they were speaking figuratively, after the 
manner of Indians, and were misunderstood. 

Meantime, the town of the inland king, where the 
messengers had gone, proved to be an Indian village of 
some fifty houses. The white men were received with 
every honor, and seated on some curious reclining chairs 
in the shape of hammocks, carved to look like animals 
with short legs and a flattened tail. The tail was curved 
upward to serve as a back, and the eyes and ears were 
incrusted with gold. 

The visitors were fed on fruits and vegetables, and 
their hands and feet were kissed by the men and women 
of the place. But the people of the village spoke neither 
Hebrew, Arabic, Coptic, nor Armenian, and so one of 
the Indian interpreters had to make a speech, in which 



74 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



he told them among other things that the white men 
had come from heaven. 

As there was nothing to be learned here concerning 
the whereabouts of the Emperor of China, the Spaniard, 




CHAIR SUCH AS COLTJMBUS'S MESSENGERS SAT IN. 
FOUND IN A CAVE ON TURK's ISLAND. 



the Jew, and the two Indians set out on their return 
journey. On their way back they met Indians carrying 
firebrands with them, so that they might light fires with 
whicli to cook a certain root. This root r/as nothing 
less than the potato, and this was the first time that a 
white man saw it. The potato was destmed to be worth 
more to Europe than all the spices for which Columbus 
was looking, but of course the Spaniards did not sus- 
pect this. These messengers also saw Indians rolling 
up dry leaves within a dry leaf, and then lighting one 
end of the roll and sucking the smoke into their mouths. 
The Indians called these rolls of dried leaves tobaccos. 
The innocent white man could not imagine why the 
Indians smoked these leaves, unless it were to perfume 
themselves. The same messengers were the first Euro^ 



COLUMBUS VISITS CUBA. Y6 

peans who saw fields of Indian corn ; they also saw fields 
planted with potatoes, others with the yucca, the root 
of which was made into cassava bread, besides fields of 
cotton, which the Indians spun and made into hammocks 
or wove into a sort of apron, which the women some- 
times wore. 

Though the white men had discovered so much that 
was new and wonderful, Columbus could not find that 
he was any nearer the Eastern cities for which he was 
looking. So, taking some of the natives of Cuba with 
him, he set out in search of the land of Bohio or Ba- 
heqiie^ which the Indians seemed to speak of as the land 
of gold. 



76 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE DISCOVERY OF HAYTI. 

U92. 

Troubled by contrary winds, Columbus did not 
make any new discoveries for some days. He beat 
about in sight of the island of Isabella, but feared to 
touch here lest he should lose his Indian guides, who 
did not like being kidnaped by the white men. The 
poor fellows kept a wistful eye toward San Salvador, 
which was their home. Meantime Pinzon thought he 
would try a little voyage on his own account. The 
Spaniards were all greedy for gold. One of the Indians 
on board Pinzon's ship had made him believe that he 
could guide him to a land of great riches. Columbus 
had signaled to the Pinta to join him, but she worked 
gradually away, and by another morning she was out 
of sight. This made Columbus angry, for it was the 
duty of Pinzon to obey him, as the admiral of the fleet. 
Columbus now returned to Cuba, and did some more 
sailing along its coasts. He found in one of the Indian 
cabins a cake of wax, which he took as a present to the 
king and queen, " for where there is wax," he said, 
" there must be a thousand other good things." He 
finally reached the eastern end of Cuba, which he 
thought to be the eastern end of Asia, though he called 
it India, for the different parts of Asia were very much 



THE DISCOVERY OF HAYTI. 77 "^ 

mixed in people's minds in those days. Colmnbus did 
not know which w^ay to turn. As he was sailing about 
in uncertainty, he saw land to the southeast. The Indi- 
ans said '^Bohio " when they saw this land, and, as Co- 
lumbus thought that hohio meant a land where there was 
much gold, he steered for it. The word hohio is still 
used in Santo Domingo for a cabin, and no doubt the 
simple guides meant that there were many cabins here. 
Columbus saw that he was coming to a beautiful shore, 
with high mountains, rich plains, and everywhere grand 
tropical forests. At night, the Spaniards could see 
many fires, while in the day-time numerous columns of 
smoke rose from the land, and there seemed to be many 
cultivated fields. They coasted along the northern 
shore of the island, for this was the island of Haj-ti, or 
Santo Domingo, as we call it to-day. There were noble 
mountains, covered with forests of the most valuable 
trees, and between them lay beautiful savannas, where 
there were fields of grain growing, decorated here and 
there with palms. There were so many fish in the sea 
that they sometimes jumped into the Spaniards' boats, 
and the voyagers heard what they thought to be the 
song of the nightingale in the woods, though there are 
no nightingales in America. 

The island of Hayti seemed to Columbus the most 
beautiful of all ; he therefore named it for Spain, His- 
paniola. When the white men landed, they found that 
the people had all fled. As Columbus could see culti- 
vated fields, he thought that the people of Hispaniola 
were perhaps more civilized than the other Indians that 
he had found. Columbus set up a cross to show that 
he took possession of the country. Three sailors, who 



78 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



wandered about in the woods while this ceremony was 
being performed, happened on a crowd of Indians, who 
ran away very fast, not being troubled with any clothes 
to hinder them. The sailors ran after them and caught 
one young woman, whom they took back to the ships. 

As she wore no clothing 
whatever, it was necessary 
to give up the theory that 
the natives of Hayti miglit 
be more civilized than those 
of other islands ; but, on 
the other hand, the young 
woman, not to be wholly 
without decoration, wore a 
gold ornament in her nose, 
which gave the Spaniards 
encouragement. Columbus 
caused the woman to be 
clad, presented her with 
some trifles, and then set 
her free. In that warm 
climate this young savage 
may not have enjoyed the 
clothing very much, but she 
was no doubt delighted with 
her beads and bells. 
The next day the admiral sent some men and a 
Cuban Indian on shore to see if they could not get a 
chance to talk with the people of the village from which 
the woman had come. The messengers, after walking 
a considerable distance, found a large Indian village in 
a beautiful valley on the shores of a river. Here were 




SHE MAY NOT HAVE ENJOYED 
THE CLOTHING VERY MUCH." 



THE DISCOVERY OF HAYTI. 79 

banana and palm trees, with birds gayly singing among 
the branches, though it was now December. There 
were a thousand houses in this town, but people there 
were none ; all had taken flight. The Cuban Indian 
was sent in pursuit of them. They were not so much 
afraid of a naked man of their own color, so they let 
him come near, and listened while he persuaded them 
to return and see the visitors from the skies. The 
Indians after a while ventured slowly back, stopping 
every now and then to put their hands on their heads, 
which was either an act of politeness with them or some 
charm to keep them from harm at the hands of these 
strange beings. A second company of Indians arrived 
soon after, carrying the woman whom the Spaniards 
had clothed upon their shoulders, to show how pleased 
they were with the treatment she had received. The 
savages gave the white men food and wdiatever else 
they required. They wished them to stay in their vil- 
lage all night, but the messengers returned to the ships. 
They told Columbus that they had seen a very rich and 
beautiful country, and that the people were finer looking 
and lighter colored than the Indians they had seen in 
the other islands. 

Columbus prosecuted his voyage still farther along 
the northern coast of Hayti. One night, when he was 
in the channel between the islands of Tortuga and His- 
paniola, he came upon an Indian paddling alone in a 
canoe. He wondered that a man should venture so far 
from land when the wind was blowing hard and the sea 
was rough. He did not see how the fellow could keep 
his tiny boat from turning over. The Spaniards picked 
up this solitary navigator, took his canoe in tow, fed 



80 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

him with sweets, decked him with beads and hawkbells, 
and then sent him ashore on the island of Hispaniola. 
AVhen the Indian told his friends how well he had been 
treated, they soon came out to the ships with their usual 
merchandise to trade for gewgaws. They wore some 
gold ornaments, which gave the Spaniards new hopes. 

The signs of gold increased. One chief was found 
who cut a plate of gold as large as his hand into pieces 
and traded it with the white men. He promised to 
bring more gold the following day. The next day 
some sailors, who had been ashore, hastened on board 
to tell Columbus that this king was coming to see him ; 
not on foot, however, though he was a young man, but 
carried on a sort of hand-barrow or litter, by four men. 
When he arrived, Columbus was eating his dinner in 
the cabin. He ordered the monarch of the hand-barrow 
to be brought to him. The king entered the cabin of 
Columbus, commanding his followers with a wave of 
the hand to stay outside, which they did, squatting on 
the deck, except two old men, who entered with the 
king and sat at his feet. Columbus, always ready to 
apply European notions to America, conjectured that 
one of these men was the king's tutor and the other his 
counselor. This savage monarch would not permit the 
admiral to rise from his dinner, so Columbus caused 
some of his dishes to be offered to the chief. The latter 
tasted each dish very daintily, and then turned it over 
to the tutor and counselor, who devoured it quickly 
enough. He did the same with the drinks that were 
offered him, and Columbus was charmed with his air of 
stately dignity. He spoke little, but Columbus was sure 
that what he said must be very judicious, though he did 




The Indian monarch and his councillors visit Columbus. 



THE DISCOVERY OF HAYTl. ^1 

not understand a word of it. After dinner was over, 
one of the officers of this king brought a belt, which 
the white men thouglit ahnost as fine as a Spanish belt, 
though of a different workmanship. This is the first 
time in history that we hear of the wampum belt, which 
Indian chiefs used in making a friendly treaty. It is 
strange that these island chiefs should have had the 
same custom as our North American Indians. 

The king gave the admiral the belt and two very 
tiny morsels of worked gold. Seeing that his guest ad- 
mired the cover of his bed very much, Columbus took 
it off and made him a present of it. He also gave him 
several amber beads, which he wore around his own 
neck, some red shoes, and a bottle of orange water. 
The king was very much delighted and astonished with 
the scent of the orange water. The admiral thought he 
said that he was sorry that they could not understand 
each other, and that he was the king of the whole island. 
Columbus showed him a gold ducat with the heads of 
Ferdinand and Isabella stamped on it, and some royal 
banners. The king remarked that these monarchs no 
doubt lived in the heavens. He was sent ashore in the 
ship's boat, with every honor, for Columbus was im- 
pressed with the dignity of a king who made his jour- 
neys on a hand-barrow. Having reached the shore, the 
chief once more mounted his litter, while one of his 
sons was carried behind him on the shoulder of an In- 
dian subject. Perhaps this was the crown prince. 



82 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

WRP]CKED. 



. It was Christmas eve. The sea was as calm as the 
water in a porringer, to use the words of Columbus. 
The admiral had not slept for two days and a night, so 
he left the helm in the hands of an experienced pilot 
and went to bed about eleven o'clock. Columbus was 
no sooner asleep than the helmsman turned the rudder 
over to a boy, and went to sleep himself. Meantime 
the currents drew the ship slowly toward a sand bank. 
She touched so softly that there was almost no shock. 
The boy who was steering felt the helm stop and heard 
the breakers on the sand bar. He began to cry out. 
Columbus was on his feet in an instant, and was the 
first man on deck. The pilot and several sailors ran 
out next. Columbus ordered them to get into the boat 
and throw out an anchor astern in order to warp the 
ship off. Instead of doing this the cowards rowed for 
the I^ina, which was half a league away. 

Meantime the current was driving the ship farther 
and farther on the bar. Columbus had her mast cut 
away, hoping that this would lighten her so that she 
would float once more. But it did no good. The vessel 
settled on her side, and her seams began to open. The 
men on the Nina would have nothing to do with the 



WRECKED. 



83 



runaway sailors, so they presently came back to their 
own ship, when it w^as too late to be of any service. 




SHIPWHECK. 



There was nothing for the crew to do bnt to take refuge 
in the IS'ina. Two officers were sent on shore to tell 



g4 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

the king of tins part of the island of the misfortunes 
that had befallen the white men. This chief heard the 
sad story with tears, and sent a number of Indians with 
their canoes to help the Spaniards save the ship's cargo. 
The chief, whose name was Guacanagari, presently came 
out in a canoe himself, and politely watched to see that 
his men did their best in helping the whites. Every 
now and then the Indian king is said to have sent some 
relative of his to visit Columbus, and tell him with 
tears, not to afflict himself, for Guacanagari would give 
him all that he possessed. The kindness of this chief 
was real, for there was not a pin missing of the cargo 
when it was got together on shore, where the chief set 
some of his warriors to stand guard over it. But in 
spite of the friendliness of these simple people, Colum- 
bus did not spend a merry Christmas. 

Guacanagari made the admiral a visit on board the 
Nina the day after Christmas, showing his sympathy by 
a very sad face. He offered Columbus anything that 
he had, and said that he had already set apart three 
houses to store his goods in. While they were talking, 
a canoe load of strange Indians appeared on the scene, 
bringing leaves of gold to exchange for little bells. The 
sailors, too, who had been ashore in the village of Gua- 
canagari, also said that the Indians had given them gold 
for the smallest trifles. The face of Columbus lighted 
up at this news. The Indian chief was quick to see 
this, and told Columbus something about a place called 
Cibao, where there was much gold. He said that he 
would have plenty of gold brought from there as soon 
as possible. Columbus had heard the Indians men- 
tion Cibao before in connection with gold, and he 



WRECKED. 



85 



jumped to the conclusion that it meant Cipango, or 
Japan. 

Guacanagari invited Cohmibus to go ashore and eat 
with him, and the invitation was accepted. The feast 
consisted of coneys or little rabbits, fish, fruits, and 
cassava bread. The white men had not learned to like 
the Indian food yet, and preferred their own salt meat, 
sea biscuits, and wine. The king ate very slowly, washed 
his hands when done, and rubbed 
them with scented herbs. The 
chief ended the day's entertain- 
ment by giving Columbus a sort 
of carved mask, with eyes and 
ears of gold, and some necklaces, 
from which hung gold plates. 

Columbus now began to imag- 
ine it a lucky accident which had 
wrecked him on this coast, where 
there was so much promise of 
gold. His men were having a 

very good time on shore, with no work to do and plenty 
of tropical food to eat. Some of them proposed to stay 
on the island while Columbus returned to Spain, for the 
Nina was not large enough to carry them all. This 
idea pleased the admiral greatly. He resolved to have 
a little fort built out of the wrecked ship, and to leave 
a colony in Hispaniola. 

While the fort was building, Columbus dwelt in the 
largest house in the Indian village. This house was 
carpeted with palm leaves. Whenever Guacanagari came 
to see the admiral, he hung some gold ornaments around 
his neck. Columbus in return gave the chief necklaces 




AN INDIAN MASK FROM 
IIAYTI. 



§6 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

of green beads, a mantle of line cloth, a pair of colored 
boots, and a large silver linger ring. Guacanagari told 
Columbus about his troubles, which consisted mainly in 
a lively dread of the natives of the Caribbee Islands, 
who came and carried olf the people of Hispaniola 
as captives. Columbus promised the chief that the 
Spaniards would protect them from the Caribs, though 
he had not the least idea who the Caribs were, or 
where they came from. Before leaving, Columbus 
thought best, for more reasons than one, to show Gua- 
canagari the power of the white men, so he sent to the 
Nina for a Moorish bow and arrows, together with a 
certain Spaniard who was a very good marksman. The 
Indians were much pleased with this man's skill. An 
arquebus, which was the clumsy gun of that day, was 
also discharged, and a sort of cannon called a Lombard 

was fired into the 
hull of the wrecked 
ship. The fire-arms 
were too much for 
the Indians. King 
and subjects fell on the ground at the first report. 
They were much frightened, but when they were as- 
sured that these weapons should be used against their 
enemies, the Caribs, their fright is said to have changed 
to delight. 

The admiral left his little colony all the trinkets 
there were on board the two vessels, with which to 
trade, as well as provisions, arms, tools, seeds, cannon 
and powder, and a ship's boat. He ex]3ected when he 
came back to find a ton of gold gathered by trading 
with the Indians. He left thirty-nine men at this colony. 



AN ARQUEBUS. 



WRECKED. 



87 



As a part of the seamen who sailed with Columbus 
were released prisoners, it is likely that many of the 
men who consented to remain behind were criminals 
who had their own reasons for not caring to go home. 
This was a very bad seed to sow in a new soil. Colum- 
bus named his fort La Navidad, or the Nativity, because 
he had been wrecked here on Christmas eve. 




Itc^Air^^m:-.^ 



JW 



A LOMBARD. 



88 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTEK XY. 

A SKIRMISH. 
U93. 

On the 4th day of January, 1493, the Nina was towed 
out of the harbor of La Navidad, and made her start for 
Spain. The wind was contrary, and she pushed slowly 
along the northern coast of Hispaniola. One day, while 
the Nina was beating about in sight of a bold mountain- 
peak which Columbus named Monte Christo, a sailor who 
was on the lookout called from the mast where he was 
perched that the Pinta was in sight. The men on the 
Nina were overjoyed, for they dreaded to take the long 
A^oyage to Spain alone in their indifferent little ship. 
Pinzon made some very poor excuses to the admiral for 
his long absence. But Columbus dared not reprove him, 
for he had many relatives and friends in the two ships, 
and Columbus did not want anything to happen to hinder 
him from getting back to Spain safely with his good news. 
Pinzon had really gone off on a voyage of his own. He 
had wasted some time cruising about among small isl- 
ands, and had tlien gone to Hispaniola and traded for 
gold along the coast. Half of this gold he kept, and 
gave the other half to his sailors to persuade them to con- 
ceal the fact, for the gold belonged to the crown. The 
thrifty Pinzon had also captured four Indian men and 
two girls, whom he meant to sell in Spain for slaves. 



A SKIRMISH. 



89 



Tlie weather was still rough after the Pinta had 
joined the Nina, so that Columbus was detained some 
time longer off the coast of Hispaniola. He saw here 
what he thought to be mermaids, for people at that time 
believed in the existence of these beauties of the sea. 
But Columbus did not find them so beautiful as they 
had been represented, for the mermaids of Columbus 




COLUMBUS FINDS MERMAIDS LESS BEAUTIFUL THAN THEY HAD BEEN 
REPRESENTED TO BE. 



were probably sea calves. The ships presently came to 
the river where Pinzon had been trading. Columbus 
made his rebellious captain put ashore the men and 
girls that he had captured for slaves, for he did not 
wish the Indians to have any reason to hate the Span- 
iards. The ships at length reached the great bay of 
Samana, on the western end of the island, and the ad- 
miral sent some of his men to the land to fill the water 
casks for the long voyage, for this was to be the last 
stopping-place before sailing for Spain. 



90 THE STORY OP COLUMBUS. 

The men were met by a number of Indians armed 
with bows and arrows, tipped with fish teeth, and carry- 
ing heavy wooden swords or clubs with which they 
could break a man's skull. They were painted, and re- 
sembled in all points a party of our North America In- 
dians on the war-path. They did not fight the white 
men at this time, however, but sold some of their bows 
and arrows to the sailors. Columbus concluded that 
these fierce braves must be the Caribs of whom the oth- 
er Indians seemed so much afraid, for he believed that 
the natives whom he had seen hitherto were always as 
gentle and friendly as they appeared. 

One naked warrior came on board the Mna. Co- 
lumbus talked with him by signs and by the aid of a San 
Salvador Indian, and got some prodigious lies for his 
pains. When asked where the country of the Caribs 
was, the Indian pointed to the east and added the in- 
formation that in tliat country, gold was found in pieces 
half as large as the poop of the Nina. Columbus also 
got from him some story about an island which was 
peopled only by women. It is likely that he was look- 
ing for such a place, for Marco Polo told about an island 
near Asia where women lived alone, and another one 
where only men lived, and the discoverer was always on 
the lookout for these places. Columbus fed the Indian, 
gave him a bead necklace and some colored stuffs, and 
set him ashore to tell his people to bring any gold they 
might have to the ships. 

The seven Spaniards who took the Indians ashore 
began to trade with the natives they found there. 
These fellows, however, presently seized their bows and 
arrows, as well as some cords for tying prisoners, and 



A SKIRMISH. 



91 



began to fight. The Spaniards immediately fell upon 
them, and wounded one in the breast with an arrow and 
another in the back with a sword. The courage of the 
Indians departed quickly ; 
they fled to the woods, 
dropping their arms by the 
way. Columbus regretted 
this skirmish, but reflected 
that it might have a good 
effect in making the na- 
tives afraid to attack the 
little colony he had left be- 
hind. The Indians took it 
all in good part, however, 
and their chief sent Colum- 
bus a string of beads made 
of shells, that is to say, 
what in North America is 
called a wampum belt. 
The Indians beo-an to come 
on board, and four young 
fellows, probably wishing 
to be rid of the new com- 
ers, told him some tales of 




A -WAMPUM BELT. 



an island lying to the eastward. They were carried off 
for their pains, for Columbus insisted that they should 
go to the island with him as guides. As the island did 
not appear and the wind was favorable, the ships bore 
away for Spain and the Indians had to make the rough 
voyage with them. 



92 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTEH XYL 

THE RETURN VOYAGE. 

U93. 

The Pinta and tlie Nina were both very leaky, and 
the sailors had to work hard to keep down the water. 
But they had a good wind, and the ships sped swiftly 
along toward the Old World. The men caught some 
tunny-iish and killed a shark, wdiicli they were glad to 
eat, for their supplies were running low and all they 
had left was sea biscuit, wine, and some agi-peppers, 
which they had brought with them from the West 
Indies. They made such good progress that in less 
than a month all hands began to look for Spain, or at 
least for the Canaries. 

But on the 12th of February there came up a 
violent wind, and the sea ran very high. On the next 
day, toward night, the wind increased and there were 
flashes of lightning in the northeast. Columbus pre- 
dicted a storm, and it did not delay. The two leaky 
little ships scudded along all night under bare poles. 
Neither of them had decks, and they must have been 
very uncomfortable places in a wintry gale. The storm 
let up a little on the morning of the 14th, and the 
ships made some sail, but the wind presently came up 
from the south more furiously than ever. The men 
had to take in sail and let the ships drive before the 



THE RETURN VOYAGE. 93 

hurricane. Darkness came on once more, and the 
vessels signaled to one another with lights. For a long 
while the men on the Nina could see the lights of the 
Pinta, but presently they were lost in the tempest. 
When morning came there was no shij) to be seen, and 
the despairing men on the Mna gave her up for lost, 
and expected that their turn would come next. 

As the day wore on, the storm increased in violence. 
There seemed to be no hope for the men on the little 
Nina unless Heaven should come to their help, and so 
they made vows after the custom of their time. Co- 
lumbus caused as many beans as there were men on the 
ship to be put into a cup. On one of these beans was 
cut a cross. Every one then made a vow that should 
he draw the marked bean, he would, if the ship got safe 
to land, make a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Mary 
of Guadaloupe, carrying a wax candle weighing five 
pounds. Columbus drew the bean with the cross on it. 
The beans were put in a cup again, and this time 
another pilgrimage was vowed. A sailor drew the 
marked bean, and Columbus promised to give him 
money with which to pay the expenses of his pilgrim- 
age. Another lot was then cast for a pilgrimage to still 
another shrine, to say a mass there and watch all night 
in the chapel. Columbus again drew the marked bean. 
As the storm grew worse than ever, sailors, officers, and 
men at once made a solemn vow that w^ere they ever 
spared to reach land, they would go, barefooted and 
clad only in their shirts, in procession to the nearest 
church dedicated to the Virgin to give thanks. 

After making their vows, the sailors bethought them- 
selves to fill all the empty barrels wdth sea w^ater, for 



94 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



the ship lacked ballast, because so much of the water 
and food had been used on the voyage that she rolled 
very badly. Still matters grew worse and worse. The 




COLUMBUS AND THE SAILORS DRAW BEANS 



men cursed their admiral for having taken them into 
such dangers, and for not having turned back, as they had 
desired him on many occasions. The unhappy Colum- 
bus knew very well that he had made a great discovery, 



THE RETURN VOYAGE. 95 

which would make his name known for all time if he 
could once reach Spain with the news of it. Now, how- 
ever, the very memory of his achievement was about to 
be swallowed up in the ocean, and in time to come 
sailors would forever be afraid to follow in his track, 
imagining that he had come to some mysterious and 
dreadful end. Then he thought about his two little 
boys, Diego and Ferdinand, at school in Cordova. 
Their father lost, the king and queen would never know 
the great service that he had rendered them, so that 
there would be no one to befriend the children. In his 
sad thoughts Columbus imagined that he was now to 
be terribly punished for his sins by being deprived of 
the glory of his great success. Then he began to won- 
der if there were not some way in which, though he 
should be dead and the ship lost with every soul on 
board, the news of his discovery might yet be saved. 

Having thought of a plan, he sat down amid all 
this confusion of the elements and wrote on parchment 
how he had found the land that he had gone to seek, 
and promised to discover, how many days it had taken to 
sail there, and by what route he had sailed, as well as a 
description of the country and the people. Columbus 
sealed his parchment and addressed it to the king and 
queen of Spain, writing on the outside that lie who 
would deliver it should have a reward of a thousand 
ducats. He then wrapped the parchment in a waxed 
cloth and put it into an empty barrel, which he caused 
to be carefully headed and thrown into the sea. He 
did not tell his men what this was for, but let them 
think that he was performing some vow. His mind 
was still uneasy lest the barrel should never reach land. 



96 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



which, in fact, it never did, so far as is known. So he 
wrote another account, sealed it in the same way, and 
put it in an empty cask, which he placed on the liigh 
poop of his ship, so that should she go down, the barrel 
would float off and stand a chance of being picked up. 




COLUMBUS WKITES AN ACCOUNT OF HIS DISCOVERT. 



LAND. 97 



CHAPTER XYII. 

LAND. 
U93. 

On the morning of the 15tli of Fe])mary a sailor 
wlio was on the lookout in the rigging gave the cry of 
land. The men were wild with delight. Iso one knew^ 
what the land was. Some thought it the island of 
Madeira, some Portugal, and some Spain, but Columbus 
believed it to be one of the Azores. The storm was 
so great that for two days the shij) beat about in 
sight of land, unable to n^ake it. Once she threw out 
an anchor, but her cable broke. Finally she anchored 
under shelter of the northern shore of the island. Co- 
lumbus had scarcely eaten or slept for many days. He 
now took a little rest and awoke suffering with the 
gout. 

The island proved to be St. Mary, the most southern 
of tlie Azores. The people of the island were astonished 
that the Is'ina had outlived such a storm. They were 
wonder-struck when they heard of the discoveries that 
had been made, but the governor of the Island had his 
own opinion about it. He made no doubt that Colum- 
bus had been interferino^ with some of the discoveries 
of the crown of Portugal, to which this island belonged. 
Nevertheless, he sent polite messages to the Spanish 
admiral, together with bread, fowls^, and other fresh 



98 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



provisions. Columbus liad not forgotten the vow that 
he and his men had made, so he asked if there was 
any church on the island dedicated to the Virgin Mary. 
He was told that there was a small hermitage, built on 
the rocks behind the next point. Columbus asked the 
men who had come out to the ship to find the priest 
who had the key to the little chapel, and have it un- 






-■^^^2fx 



'''^^, 



•- <■' ^- 




SHORE OF THE AZORES. 



locked. The next day he reminded his men of their 
vow. It was agreed that half of them should go bare- 
foot and in their shirts to the little church on the rocks, 
and that when they returned the other half should do 
the same. The sailors went, but the day wore on and 
they did not return. Columbus began to be uneasy. 
A point hid the chapel from view. He changed the 
anchorage of the Kina, so that he could see the hermit- 
age. There were a number of armed men on horse- 



LAND. 99 

back on the shore. Cohimbiis saw them get into the 
ship's boat and row out toward the vessel. 

The fact was that the governor of St. Mary had 
taken the sailors prisoners in their rather scanty cos- 
tume, w^iile they were performing their vow. The 
Portuguese, having been almost the only discoverers of 
new lands up to this time, were naturally jealous that 
Spain should enter the field as a rival. The governor 
of the island came out to the Nina in the captured 
ship's boat. Both he and Columbus talked Yery boast- 
fully as officers of their different crowns, and Columbus 
swore that if his men were not delivered up he would 
carry a hundred of the inhabitants of St. Mary captive 
to Spain ; but they came to no settlement. 

In spite of the way in which he had spoken to the 
governor, Columbus was anxious. Perhaps war had 
broken out between Spain and Portugal while he was 
away. He moved back to his first anchorage, so that 
the ship would not get the force of the waves so much. 
The next day the w^eather was bad, and Columbus had 
to sail over toward the island of St. Michael and take 
shelter behind it. He had a great deal of trouble to 
manage his ship, for there were only three old hands 
left on board, the rest being landsmen and Indians, 
which last were of no account whatever. Columbus 
had to do a sailor's work himself. The vessel got 
through the night safely, and as the storm had abated 
the next day, Columbus returned to St. Mary toward 
evening. The ship's boat came out from the island 
again, bringing a notary. Having first been assured of 
his safety, the notary got aboard the Nina, where he 
spent the night. He was very polite, and said that the 



100 'J^HE STORY OP COLUMBUS. 

governor only wished to know whether the admiral 
had a commission from the King and Queen of Spain. 
Columbus was equally polite, and showed his papers. 
The notary went away satisfied, and presently the sailors 
all came back in the ship's boat. 

In consequence of this bad reception at the Azores 
and the roughness of the weather, Columbus did not get 
a chance to take in the ballast which his ship needed. 
He weighed anchor, and the wind blew the Nina toward 
Spain, but quite too furiously. At one time a dove lit 
on the ship, and again the men saw many little birds 
that had been driven out to sea by the storm. The 
tempest increased. On the 3d of March the Spaniards 
furled their sails and began to despair once more of 
ever reaching Spain. This time they made a vow and 
drew lots that one of their number should go barefoot 
and in his shirt to a certain church in Iluelva, the 
marked bean falling to Columbus once more. 

The I^ina rushed along under a furious gale, with- 
out an inch of sail, and with the sea running to a ter- 
rific height, while there were lightning flashes and 
bursts of thunder. Columbus felt as though he were 
repulsed " from the very door of the house,-' as he said. 
In the middle of the night came the cry of land, but 
this only added to the terror of the seamen, for the ship 
was in danger of being driven ashore headlong and 
wrecked. In order to prevent this, they managed to 
make a little sail. When morning came, Columbus saw 
that he was off the point of Cintra, near the city of 
Lisbon, in Portugal. There was nothing for it but to 
take refuge in the harbor, and brave the Portuguese in 
their very capital. 



LAND. 



101 



The Kina had no sooner entered the bay than the 
people ran in crowds to look at her, as though they 
were gazing on a miracle. They were, in truth, aston- 
ished that so frail a bark had weathered the storm when 



'"^^S??— -:^. 







PORT OF LISBON. 



there was news everywhere of wrecks. Columbus sent 
a courier to the King and Queen of Spain Aviththe news 
of his discovery. He also wrote to the King of Portu- 
gal, telling him where he had been, and asking that he 
might enter the port of Lisbon. He did this because 
the story had got about that his ship was loaded with 
gold, and he was afraid of being troubled. 

The captain of a Portuguese man-of-war which lay 
near him summoned Columbus on board his vessel to ac- 
count for himself. But Columbus stood upon his dignity 
as a Spanish admiral, and refused to come. When the 
Portuguese captain heard, however, what an extraordi- 
nary voyage the Kina had been on, he came to visit 
Columbus with the music of drums, fifes, and trumpets. 



102 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

By the next day the water was covered with boat- 
loads of people who had come out to see the Indians on 
board the Nina, and hear the sailors tell of the strange 
lands to which they had been. The king gave orders 
that Columbus should have everything given to him of 
which he had need. He also asked the discoverer to 
come and see him in his palace at Valparaiso. So Co- 
lumbus went to see King John of Portugal once more. 
He was received with every honor. The king made 
him put on his hat again when he had taken it off in 
his presence, and seated him by his side as though he 
were a royal personage. He made Columbus tell him 
all about his voyage. The kings of Portugal were in- 
telligent men and much interested in discoA^eries by sea. 
King John could not but admire so brave a deed, but 
he regretted sorely that he had not undertaken this 
voyage himself. He remarked that he was not sure 
whether, according to tlie treaty he had made with 
Spain, he might not lay claim to this new country. 
Portugal had indeed a papal grant to all the lands dis- 
covered from Cape Non, in Africa, to the Indies. If 
Columbus had found the Indies, he might be interfering 
with the rights of Portugal. Columbus said that he 
did not know anything about the treaty, but that the 
King and Queen of Spain had ordered him not to go 
near the coast of Africa, and that he had obeyed them. 
The king answered politely that it was all right, and 
that no doubt there would be no trouble about it. After 
the discoverer had visited the king, he had to visit the 
queen and tell her about his adventures. 

On the 13th of March Columbus made sail for Spain, 
and after two days he anchored in the harbor of Palos, 



LAND. 103 

out of which he had sailed seven months and a half be- 
fore. The people of Palos were wild with deliirht. 
They came to meet him in procession, shouting with 
excitement. They held it a great honor that Columbus 
had sailed from their town, priding themselves on it as 
much as though they had not done their utmost to de- 
feat his enterprise at the outset. 



104 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTER XYIIL 



REJOICINGS AT COURT. 



U92. 



The Pinta had not foundered, as Columbus sup- 
posed. Those on board of her did not doubt, in their 
turn, that the Mna was lost, and Martin 
Alonzo Pinzon thought to be the first to 
carry the good news to Spain and to gain 
much of the credit that was due to Colum- 
bus. The Pinta made land in Galicia, 

and Pinzon has- 
tened to send 
his account of 
the new discov- 
eries to Ferdi- 
nand and Isa- 
bella, and to ask 




for 
to 



permission 
come to 



ROYAL PALACL 
BARCELONA. 



court. The king 
and queen had 
perhaps heard 
already of the 
behavior of Pin- 
zon in the West 
Indies, for Co- 



REJOICINGS AT COURT. 105 

lumbus had sent a courier to them from Portugal. They 
sent Pinzon word that they would not see him unless 
he came in the suite of Columbus, where he belonged. 
Pinzon came back to Palos ill the same day that Colum- 
bus reached there, and died soon after. Some writers 
say that he died of a broken heart because of the refusal 
of the king and queen to see him. 

Ferdinand and Isabella sent for Columbus to come to 
court, which was then at Barcelona. So the navigator 
set out, carrying with him the gold he had brought 
and the curiosities of the West Indies, among which 
were six Indians. One of the Indians that Columbus 
had brought with him had died on the voyage and three 
were left sick at Palos, for Indians do not readily stand 
changes of place and new modes of living. The great 
discoverer traveled very slowly, because he was stopped 
on the road by crowds of people who thronged around 
him to stare at the Indians and ask questions about the 
voyage. He reached Barcelona about the middle of 
April, a month after he had landed. Meantime, Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella, highly delighted with the success of 
the enterprise, had ordered that a grand reception should 
be prepared for Columbus. The courtiers went out to 
meet him, and there was a great procession through the 
city in sight of the multitudes that filled the streets and 
crowded the windows and housetops to get a look at 
Columbus and his wild men from the New World. 

The king and queen seated themselves on a throne, 
beneath a canopy of gold brocade, with their son. Prince 
Juan, beside them, to receive the great discoverer. Co- 
lumbus kneeled to kiss the hands of their majesties, but 
they raised him up and caused him to sit down in their 



106 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

presence, which was a great honor in a land of severe 
etiquette hke Spain. The monarchs then bade Cohnn- 
bus tell them all about his voyage, and made him show 
them the parrots, strange plants, ornaments of gold, and 
the natives that he had brought with him. This done, 
Ferdinand and Isabella fell on their knees and gave 
thanks to God for the wonderful discovery. When all 
was over, the admiral was conducted to his lodgings by 
the courtiers in procession. After this, when the king 
rode out, Columbus rode on one side of him and the 
crown prince on the other, which was the greatest com- 
pliment that could have been paid the discoverer. 

The pension promised to the first man who should 
see land w^as granted to Columbus, who saw the trem- 
bling light on the eve of his great discovery. The ad- 
miral has been much criticized for taking this pension 
away from a poor sailor. It is not known for what 
reasons the discoverer was preferred to the seaman of 
the Pinta. It should be remembered, however, that the 
captain and the crew of this ship were in disgrace for 
having deserted the admiral, and plotted to rob the gov- 
ernment of the much desired gold. 

The new^s of the discovery traveled fast. It was 
soon known in the courts of Europe and discussed by 
learned men. The letter Columbus had sent to Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella from his ship, was printed in differ- 
ent places. In the court of Henry YII, of England, 
men said that it w^as a thing "more divine than 
human." 

Everybody believed, as Columbus did, that he had 
found a way to the most eastern parts of Asia, and it 
took a long time to get this notion out of men's heads. 



REJOICINGS AT COURT. 107 

This belief caused the new islands to be known as the 
Indies, and after a while as the West Indies, while the 
name of the Antilles came from the tradition of an isl- 
and called Antilla in the Atlantic Ocean. It was also 
because of the belief that India had been found that 
natives of the Kew World were called Indians. 

The Pope was supposed to have a right to grant 
heathen lands to Christian kings, so Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella hastened to send him the news of the great dis- 
covery, and ask him to give them a right to the lands 
which Columbus had found for them. He did this, and, 







CADIZ, FROM THE MOLE. 



as the Portuguese were jealous that the Spanish discov- 
eries might interfere with theirs, the Pope established 
an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean, from north to 



108 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



south, giving Spain all the land on the west of this line, 
and Portugal all the land found on the east. 

Great haste was made to send out a second fleet to 
the new world to make sure of the discoveries. Juan 
Rodriguez de Fonseca, archdeacon of Seville and after- 




ward a bishop, was given control of India affairs, as 
they were called, with an office at Seville. Fonseca and 
Columbus were very busy getting ready for the new 
voyage. Seventeen ships, little and big, were to sail 
this time from Cadiz, and it took a great deal of money 



REJOICINGS AT COURT. 109 

to pay the expenses of so great a fleet. Part of the 
funds came from the sale of the gold and jewels taken 
from the unhappy Jews whom Ferdinand and Isabella 
had driven from Spain, for it was thought in those 
days a religious act to persecute all who did not believe 
in Christianity. 

The arms which the men who w^ent on this new voy- 
age were to carry came from the beautiful Moorish 
palace of the Alhambra, which w^as at this time used as 
an arsenal. In those days gunpowder w^as not yet 
much employed in light warfare. The arquebuse, which 
was the hand gun of that day, was heavy and awkward, 
for the man w^ho used it had to carry a stand with him 
to rest it on when he fired, and soldiers naturally pre- 
fered the bow and arrow. 

Queen Isabella interested herself very much in plans 
for converting the Indians. The six natives whom 
Columbus had brought to Barcelona were baptized, the 
king, queen, and Prince Juan being sponsors. Prince 
Juan chose one of these Indians to add to his attendants. 
The poor fellow died some two years afterward, as 
these people almost always did when removed from 
their home, and the Spaniards pleased themselves with 
the thought that he w^as the first of these wild people 
to enter heaven. 



110 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

THE SECOND VOYAGE. 
U93. 

Those wlio went with Columbus on his first voyage 
thought that they were doomed men. The second ex- 
pedition was quite another affair. It was said that men 
were ahnost willing to jump into the sea and swim to 
these new lands. The magic word gold had been spoken, 
and thousands, many of whom were of the nobility, 




THE HARBOR, LOOKING FROM CADIZ. 



flocked to Columlnis to beg employment in the new 
colony. People thought they had only to go to the 
Indies to pick up gold. The voyage also seemed to 
offer a fine field for adventure, better even than had the 
Moorish wars. Many had to be refused, and as it was, 
more were engaged to go than had been intended. 




Columbus bids good-by to his sons. 



THE SECOND VOYAGE. m 

Among others who were to sail with Columbus was his 
younger brother Diego, who had no doubt come from 
Genoa as soon as he had heard of the good fortune of 
Christopher. 

Horses were put on the ships, as well as cattle, seeds, 
vines, sugar-canes, and grafts. Besides these things, 
the vessels were loaded with an abimdance of beads, 
hawksbells, looking-glasses, and such other inexpensive 
trinkets as would take the fancy of the Indians. 

There was so much to be done that the fleet could 
not be got ready to sail until the 25th of September, 
1493. There was a great bustle of departure and leave- 
taking in the harbor of Cadiz an hour before sunrise 
on the morning of the sailing, for fifteen hundred peo- 
ple, many of them men of high rank, were starting out 
for the New World, and crowds had come to bid them 
farewell. Among the others gathered there in the early 
morning were the sons of Columbus, come to see their 
father off. The great discoverer was very fond of these 
two boys. One of the purposes of his life was to make 
them great and rich men. 

The ships were finally off. They made sail for the 
Canaries, where they stopped some time, laying in meat, 
wood, and water for the voyage. While Columbus was 
at the Canaries he gave to each one of his captains a 
sealed paper, commanding them not to open the papers 
unless they got lost from the fleet. These papers gave 
directions for sailing to Hispaniola, for Columbus wished 
to keep the route a secret as far as possible, so that others 
should not get in ahead of him and reap the fruits of 
his enterprise. 

The fleet lost sight of the last of the Canaries on the 
9 



112 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

13th of October. The weather was fine, and the ships 
sped along for the New World. Once, indeed, they had 
a violent thunder storm, and blue flames were seen 
rising from the tips of the masts. This was the elec- 
trical light known as St. Elmo's fire. The superstitious 
Spanish sailors, believing this to be St. Elmo liimself, 
thought they were safe when they saw the flames, and 
began to say litanies and sing chants. 

This time the fleet reached land in twenty days after 
leaving the Canaries. The ships had gone farther south 
than Columbus had sailed before, and one of the Carib- 
bee Islands was the first land seen. The people on 
board shouted with joy, for they had got very tired of 
the bad sea food and of bailing water out of the leaky 
ships, and had been sighing for land for some time. 
Columbus named the island Dominica, which means 
Sunday, because he had found it on that day. Though 
it was the 3d of N"ovember, wdien everything was dull 
and brown in Spain, Dominica was green from the tops 
of her mountains to the water's edge, " which was de- 
lightful to see," in the opinion of the men on board the 
fleet. During this first day six islands could be seen 
from the ships, each beautifully green ; the air was 
sweet with the scent of flowers, and flocks of parrots 
and other birds of brilliant color flew from one island 
to another. Columbus could find no good harbor in 
Dominica, so he sailed to another island, which he called 
Marigalante, after his ship. The admiral went ashore 
at Marigalante, carrying the royal banner, to take pos- 
session, and found the island was covered with dense 
woods, of such kinds of trees as the Spaniards had 
never seen before, some bearing fruit and some in bios- 



THE SECOND VOYAGE. 113 

som. The men found one leaf which had a promising 
smell of cloves, while some of them tasted an unknown 
fruit and were made ill by it. There seemed to be no 
people on this island, and Columbus only remained 



:c:^.^.6^____ 




MARIGALANTE ISLAND. 



there two hours. The next day he sailed for another 
very large island. The ships ran by a high mountain 
on the shore of this island with a peak, which was 
the crater of a volcano. Streams of water ran down 
the mountain, and in one place there was a waterfall 
which seemed to come from the sky, so high was it. 
As the cascade fell it became clouds of foam, which 
looked in the distance like Avhite rock, and the men on 
shipboard disputed whether it was rock or water, and 
made wagers with one another regarding it. Columbus 
named this island Guadalupe, because he had promised 
the monks of Our Lady of Guadalupe to name some 



114 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

new land for tlieir convent. There were some small 
villages on the sea-shore, but the jDeople who lived in 
them fled as soon as they spied a sail. The admiral 
sent some men ashore to find out what sort of people 
lived here, though the Spaniards suspected that those 
they had seen running were not embarrassed by clothing. 

The men found the cabins much like those which 
Columbus had seen before — little thatched roofs, with 
hammocks strung from their posts, furnished with dishes 
made out of calabashes, or of rude earthenware ; cotton 
spun and nnspun ; bows and arrows tipped with bone, 
and some very large, tame parrots, with plumage of 
green, white, blue, and red. There were also some 
fruits which looked like great green pine cones, but 
which proved to have a delicious taste. This was the 
first time that white men had ever tasted pine-apples. 
In one of the cabins was a little frightened, naked child, 
whom the parents had forgotten when they ran away. 
The Spaniards put some strings of glass beads around 
the arms of the child, so that when the people came 
back they would see that the strangers meant to be 
friendly. The white men found human l)ones about 
these cabins, w^hich made Columbus think that these 
were the very Caribs of which other Indians were 
afraid, and said that they ate human flesh. 

In the next few days the Spaniards captured some 
Indians, and some women fled to them. These women 
were prisoners who had been carried away from other 
islands, and, as the Spaniards thought, expecting to be 
eaten, preferred to try their chances with the white 
strangers. Columbus had them decorated with bells 
and set ashore, though the poor creatures seemed to be 




A71 Indian child is found in a hut. 



THE SECOND VOYAGE. 115 

reluctant to go. The boats had no sooner put them 
ashore and pushed off again than their Indian masters 
rushed out and tore the ornaments off' of them. The 
next day, when some men were ashore getting w^ater, 
these women came and begged to be taken back, so the 
sailors took pity on them and took them to the ships. 
The Indian women told Columbus that most of the men 
of the place had gone off in their canoes to make cap- 
tives on some of the other islands. 




MAP OF ^'■"'j^>^ 

COLUMBUS' SECOND VOYAGE. ^^ "^ 




"■^CiVnanqQlaiitre 

IS' . . 

xJlDom'in'icft 






? 5 



116 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTER XX. 

ADVENTURES AMONG THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 
U93. 

One of the Spanish captains with eight men had 
gone ashore on the island of Guadahipe (or, as the pres- 
ent French possessors call it, Guadaloupe), without per- 
mission from the admiral, and did not return. Colum- 
bns was in haste to sail for Hispaniola. Parties went 
ashore and scrambled about in the thick woods, firing 
an arquebuse from time to time, but they found no 
sign of the lost Spaniards. There was nothing to do 
but to wait another day. So Columbus ordered that 
the time should be used in getting in water and wood, 
and washing clothes. 

While the linen of fifteen hundred men fluttered 
in the breeze, Alonzo de Ojeda, a bold fellow, with 
some forty men, beat up the woods in search of the 
lost Spaniards, blowing trumpets and discharging guns. 
They returned without finding them, but said that they 
had discovered such valuable things as mastic, aloes, 
sandalwood, frankincense, and cinnamon trees, and that 
they had seen falcons, kites, turtle-doves, crows, par- 
tridges, and nightingales. Ojeda also said that they had 
waded through twenty-six rivers. It is quite likely that 
Ojeda waded through the windings of the same river 
more than once, as well as that he saw spices and birds 
other than those of which he boasted. 



ADVENTURES AMONG THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. H^ 

After the stragglers had been gone four days, Co- 
lumbus concluded that they had been eaten by can- 
nibals. He was about to sail when the wanderers 
hailed the ships from shore. They had been lost in the 
tropical tangle, and had scrambled about unable to lind 
the coast. One man had climbed one of the immense 
trees to try to get the points of the compass by means 
of an observation of the stars, but the great canopy of 
leaves at the top concealed the sky from sight. The 
men had finally happened upon the shore, and so found 
their way to the ships, looking worn and half starved. 
Hungry as they were, Columbus punished them for 
going ashore without permission by putting them in 
irons on half -rations. 

The Indian women on board the fleet said that 
there were other islands to the south of Guadaloupe, 
and that beyond them was the mainland, which was 
true, strange to say — for the white men did not usually 
get any very correct information from the natives. 
Columbus, however, anxious to reach the little colony 
he had left, held his course for Hispaniola. He passed 
many beautiful islands, and named them in passing. 
As the weather was bad, the fleet anchored at one 
which was named Santa Cruz. A well-manned barge 
was sent ashore, with instructions to talk with the 
Indians, and try to get from them directions for reach- 
ing Hispaniola. The people fled, however, and the 
men only found several women and children, whom 
they took to be prisoners of the Caribs. 

While the fleet lay at anchor, a canoe came in sight 
with four men, two women, and two boys in it. These 
Indians had not seen the ships, on account of the wind- 



118 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

ings of tlie shore, until they were quite near them. 
When they saw the strange sight, they stopped pad- 
dling and lay stupefied with amazement for almost an 
hour, within two gunshots of the vessels. The barge 
was just starting back from its trip to the shore, when 
the crew saw the wonderstruck Indians. The ship's 
boat altered its course, and crept slowly along shore 
until it had cut off retreat for the canoe. The Indians 
paddled with all their might when they saw the barge 
close upon them. But the Spaniards gained on them, 
and when the Caribs saw that they could not escape, 
they took to their bows and arrows, both men and 
women, and began to fight. Their aim was so good 
that they wounded two Spaniards, although the white 
men were defended by shields or wooden bucklers. 
The barge ran down the canoe and upset it, or the 
white men would soon have been all killed. These 
brave Indians, after their canoe was overturned, swam 
about in the water, wading where it was shallow 
enough, and taking the chance to get a fresh shot at 
the enemy. The Spaniards had as much as they could 
do to take them prisoners, and indeed they could not 
get one fellow until he was mortally wounded with 
a lance. One of the wounded Spaniards afterward 
died, for these Indians used poisoned arrows. 

The Spaniards noticed that the costumes of the 
Caribs was different from that of the other Indians 
they had seen — that is to say, that they wore their 
hair longer, and, instead of decorating their faces with 
crosses and other figures, they stained their eyebrows 
and eyelids, which made them look very fierce. The 
Spaniards thought that one of the women in the canoe 



ADVENTURES AMONG THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. Hg 

was a queen, while one of the boys was her son. These 
Indians were afterward sent to Spain, and were stared 
at by people who liked to have their blood curdled by 
the sight of man-eaters. 

The early discoverers were so easily deceived by 
what they saw, and what they fancied they understood 
in talking by signs with the natives, that we are not sure 
whether the Caribbeans were so much of cannibals as 
the Spaniards imagined. They thought that they found 
parts of a man boiling in a kettle on the island of Guada- 
loupe ; but when we remember that Columbus mistook 
sea-cows for mermaids, we may be permitted to doubt 
whether this interrupted meal of the Indians was really 
a meal of human flesh. It is quite likely, however, 
that they may sometimes have eaten their enemies in 
the ferocity of w^ar, as our Korth American Indians did. 
All the natives of these islands had the cheerful habit 
of keeping the bones, or perhaps the heads of their 
dead friends, about their cabins, and when the Spaniards 
saw such things among the Caribs, they were likely to 
think them the signs of cannibalism. The people in 
Spain, believing all they heard about these fierce cap- 
tives, thought the " queen's son " had a lion's face, 
and the crowd looked with shuddering horror at such 
monsters. 

Columbus next sailed near a number of small islands, 
bare and rugged. There were so many of them that he 
gave them the convenient name of the Eleven Thousand 
Yirgins. The next land that he discovered was the large 
island of Porto Eico, which the Spaniards noticed had a 
very rich soil. The Indians on the ships said that the 
peojDle who lived here were not Caribs, but that the 



120 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

Caribs fought with them and carried them off, and that 
they revenged themselves by eating Caribs on occasion. 
The same day that the fleet left Porto Kico, land was 
sighted, which Columbus hoped would prove to be His- 
paniola, where he had built the fort of La Navidad. 



WHAT HAD BECOME OF THE COLONY. 121 



CHAPTER XXL 

WHAT HAD BECOME OF THE COLONY. 



It was the 22d of Xovember when the fleet reached 
the end of this large island, which proved to be Hayti 
or Hispaniola, though Columbus had not seen this part 
of it before. A boat was sent ashore to bury the sailor 
who had died of the poisoned arrow of the Caribs. A 
number of Indians gathered around the white men, 
Avearing gold in their ears or about their necks. Some 
of tliese Indians went off to the ships and invited the 
Spaniards to come ashore, saving that they had plenty 
of gold. But Columbus did not wish to wait here, so 
he sent the natives back with some shirts and caps for 
presents. The fleet presently came to Samana Bay, 
where there had been a skirmish with the Indians on 
the first voyage. 

Of the Indians Columbus had taken to Spain with 
him, seven had lived to embark on the return voy- 
age. Five of these died on the voyage out, and there 
were now but two living, and, indeed, the Spaniards had 
had a great deal of trouble to keep these two alive. 
One of the survivors belonged to the party of four 
young men whom Columbus had carried away from 
Samana Bay. The Spaniards had made a Christian of 
this fellow, and, having dressed him finely and loaded 



122 'l^"HE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

him with trinkets, they sent hin:i ashore, hoping he 
would make Christians of his people and persuade 
them to become subjects to the Spanish crown. They 
never heard anything more of him. He probably re- 
lapsed speedily into savagery and kept well away from 
white men. 

Columbus made his next stop at a harbor near Monte 
Christo, thinking that perhaps he would make his set- 
tlement here. Some of the men landed to see if this 
was a good place in which to settle. But the country 
proved to be low and moist, and the men found two 
dead bodies here. One of them had a rope of Spanish 
grass around the neck, and was tied to a stake in the 
form of a cross. The bodies were very much decayed, 
so that the men could not tell whether they were Span- 
iards or Indians, but Columbus began to have fears re- 
garding the fate of his colony. The next day the men 
found two more bodies farther on, and one of these had 
a great deal of beard, wdiich made the Spaniards very 
suspicious that there had been trouble, for the Indians 
had no beards. 

Columbus sailed on to La Navidad, where he had 
left his colony. It was night when he got tliere, and as 
he had been once wrecked on the sand bank here, he 
now lay off the coast to wait until morning. He caused 
two guns to be fired, thinking that if the Spaniards 
were still alive they would answer with a shot from the 
little fort. There w^as a dead silence, nor could any 
fires or other signs of living beings be discovered on 
the shore. About midnight a canoe slipped stealthily 
out to the fleet. The Indians on board hailed the first 
vessel they came to and asked for Columbus. They 



WHAT HAD BECOME OF THE COLONY. 



123 




were shown to 
the admiral's 
ship. Cohim- 
bus was in 
the cabin, but 
they would 
not go aboard 
till they saw 
him. When 
he came out 
they were still 
distrustful, until a 
light was held up 
so that they could 
see his face. Then 
they w^ere willing to 
climb up on deck. One 
of these Indians was a cousin 
of the chief Guacanagari. 
He brought two masks, deco- 
rated with gold, as a present 
from this chief. The Indians 
stayed on the ships three 
hours talking with Columbus. 
When they were asked about 
the Spaniards whom Colum- 
bus left here 
they said that 
some of them 
had died, that 
others had been 
killed in quarrels 



124 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

among themselves, and that afterward the country had 
been attacked by a chief named Caonabo, who Hved in 
the mountains of Cibao, where gold came from. This 
king had burned the houses of both the white men and 
the Indians, and that Guacanagari had himself been 
wounded in the fight, and was lying at a distance from 
here ill of his wound. They said that this w^as the 
reason why he had not come out to the ships, though 
he meant to come the next day. They also said that 
some of the Spaniards were alive and had gone away 
from here, but one of them told the San Salvador In- 
dian, who was interpreter, that the white men w^ere all 
dead. The men in the fleet would not believe this last 
story, but took comfort in the hope held out by the 
other relation. 

. The next morning every one was looking for a visit 
from the Indian king Guacanagari. Meantime Colum- 
bus sent some men ashore. They found the little pali- 
saded fort of the Spaniards burned and leveled to the 
ground. A few Indians who lurked about were very 
shy when the white men tried to come near them. The 
Spaniards began to be very much afraid that the wdiite 
men had really been killed by the treachery of Guacana- 
gari. They threw buttons and other trifles to the In- 
dians to encourage them, but they could only coax four 
men to go aboard the ships with them. These Indians 
said that the white men were all dead. When they 
were asked who killed them they answered Caonabo. 
They went away promising to bring Guacanagari, but 
the chief did not come. Either he had been concerned 
in the murder of the whites or he was afraid that he 
would be blamed for it. 



WHAT HAD BECOME OF THE COLONY. ] 25 

The next day Columbus went asliore and examined 
the burned fort. He found that the house of the chief, 
Guacanagari, was also burned. Columbus ordered men 
to dig up the ground around the fort and to look in the 
well, for he had told the men whom he left in this fort 
to bury their gold, or to throw it in the well if they 
were surprised. 

While the men were digging, Columbus marched off 
to look for a better place to plant his colony. He came 
to an Indian village, of wretched, damp little hovels, 
overgrown with grass. The people had fled, hiding 
wdiatever they could not take with them in the grass 
around their houses. In these cabins the white men 
found things that they thought the Spaniards would 
not have traded, such as a handsome Moorish mantle, 
folded just as it came from Spain, stockings, pieces of 
cloth, and an anchor. They ripped open a basket which 
had been very carefully sewed up, and saw in it an In- 
dian's head wrapped in a cloth. It was perhaps the head 
of some ancestor preserved in this way, according to sav- 
age custom. When Columbus got back to the ruins of 
the fort, he learned that the Indians had regained their 
courage during his absence, and had traded gold worth 
a mark with the white men who had been left there. 
They had also showed where the bodies of eleven Span- 
iards lay. The grass had grown over these bodies, so 
that the men must have been dead for about two 
months. No gold had been found buried, and there 
w^as an end to the ton of gold which Columbus ex- 
pected to have sent back to Spain. 

The Indians still said that Caonabo had killed the 
colonists, but they hastened to make complaints that 
10 



126 ■ THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

the white men had taken three and fonr wives each 
from among the native women, so that it began to be 
suspected that the dead men had angered the Indians 
among whom they hved and had been killed by them. 

A caravel was sent along the shore to look for a 
better place to build a town than the disastrous La 
Navidad. Two Indians came out to talk with the cap- 
tain of the caravel, whose name was Maldonado, as he 
was sailing along the coast. One of the Indians was 
the brother of Guacanagari, and he begged the Span- 
iards to come and see the chief, for he lay ill of a 
wound, in his village. So Maldonado went ashore with 
some men. He found the Indian king lying in his ham- 
mock with his leg bound up. He told the same story 
that the other Indians had about the Spaniards having 
been killed by Caonabo, saying that he had been 
wounded in the fight, and showing his bandaged leg. 
He gave to each of the Spaniards a gold ornament, of 
a size suited to what he thought to be each man's rank. 
These ornaments were not very valuable, for the Indians 
were accustomed to beat the gold very thin in order to 
make it look showy. Guacanagari begged Maldonado 
to ask Columbus to come and see him. 

Columbus concluded to go. Having eaten an early 
dinner on shipboard, the admiral and all his principal 
men went ashore, richly dressed, as became men paying 
a visit to a monarch. Columbus took some presents 
with him, and Guacanagari had not forgotten to provide 
himself with presents in turn. The chief lay in his 
hammock, and made a polite gesture when the Spaniards 
entered his cabin. He regretted the death of the white 
men with tears in his eyes. He told Columbus the same 



WHAT HAD BECOME OF THE COLONY. 127 

story of their fate, how some had died of disease, others 
had gone to Cibao and been killed, while the rest were 
attacked in their fort and massacred by Caonabo. Gua- 
canagari gave Columbus a hundred gold beads, a golden 
coronet, three small calabashes of gold dust, and eight 
hundred beads made of stone. Perhaps these beads 
were like a necklace of chalcedony beads from Porto 
Kico, which exists to-day. These stones are drilled and 
polished with wonderful perfection, considering that the 
natives worked with stone implements. Columbus gave 
Guacanagari, in turn, some glass beads, hawksbells, 
knives, pins, needles, small looking-glasses, and copper 
ornaments, all of which seemed more valuable to the 
innocent chief than gold. 

Columbus had two surgeons with him, and he asked 
Guacanagari to let them see his wound. One of the 
surgeons, named Dr. Chanca, said that it would be neces- 
sary for the chief to be moved outside, for the cabin 
was so darkened by the crowd of people that it was 
hard to see anything. The chief consented, but Dr. 
Chanca thought that he did this " more from timidity 
than inclination." The Indian king left tlie cabin, 
leaning on the arm of Columbus. When the doctor 
began to untie his bandage Guacanagari explained that 
the wound had been made by a ciha, which meant a 
stone. When the leg was uncovered, the doctors ex- 
amined it, but could iind no sign of a w^ound, tliough 
the cunning fellow pretended that it pained him very 
much. Columbus thought best not to appear to suspect 
the chief, so he invited him to visit the fleet. Gua- 
canagari went and took supper with Columbus. He 
was shown everything strange on the ship. Pie was 



128 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

very much astonished when he saw the horses, for there 
were no four-footed animals of any size on the island. 
Columbus told the chief that he would like to build 
houses here. Guacanagari was willing, but he said that 
it was a damp place, which was true enough. This In- 
dian king talked a good deal with the finest-looking 
woman among the Caribbee captives, whom the Spaniards 
called Catalina. 

TJie next day some Indians came on board the ships, 
and among them the brother of Guacanagari. It was 
noticed that he talked with the ten Indian women who had 
come from the Caribbee Islands, and especially Catalina. 
When night came, these women dropped over the side 
of the ship and swam for the shore, which was nearly 
two miles away. The alarm was given, and the women 
were chased, but only four were caught, just as they 
reached shore. 

This was too much for Columbus. He thought that 
the wily Guacanagari had persuaded the women to es- 
cape. The Spaniards believed that he wished to add 
Catalina to the number of his wives. Columbus sent 
messengers the next morning to demand that tlie chief 
should return the Indian women. But the village of Gua- 
canagari was deserted. The inhabitants had decamped 
in the night in spite of the chief's wound. This was one 
of the first experiences of white men in dealing with 
the American Indian, whom they had at first believed 
to be an innocent creature incapable of guile. 

As for the little settlement at La Navidad, many an- 
other colony in the xTew World has had a similar 
fate, for much the same reasons. The colonists were 
mostly lawless men, and when they w^ere left where 



WHAT HAD BECOME OP THE COLONY. 129 

they were afraid of no one, they lived as wickedly as 
possible, robbed the Indians, whom they thought gentle 
creatures, of their gold and their women, and, falling 
out among themselves, killed one another. No doubt 
also some of them died of fevers, as was always the case 
in the early settlements in America. It is quite likely 
that a party of them did march off to Cibao to get gold, 
and got killed for their pains. It would not have been 
strange if the Indians among whom they had lived had 
massacred the others, but all that the Spaniards conld 
afterwards learn seemed to show that the story of Gua- 
canagari was true, in spite of his suspiciously invisible 
wound and his unceremonious leave-taking with the 
lovely Catalina. 



130 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTEE XXII. 

THE INFANT SETTLEMENT AND ITS INDIAN NEIGHBORS. 



The day after the flight of Giiacanagari the Span- 
iards went in boats np the coast in search of a good 
place to settle. As they rowed along the shore the na- 
tives seemed uneasy, and when 
the white men landed they fled. 
While the Spaniards were walk- 
ing around the deserted Indian 
village, they came upon a savage 
stretched on the ground, with a 
gaping wound in his shoulder. On 
examination, the wound proved 
to have been made by an Indian 
dart. The fellow had not been 
able to run any farther. He said 
that he had got his wound in the 
fight with Caonabo. Since Gua- 
canagari had taken himself off 
with the Indian captives of the 
Spaniards, the latter had disbelieved his story, but when 
they found this Indian with a wound real and visible, 
the story seemed more probable again. 

At last Columbus fixed upon a spot for his settle- 
ment, and landed men and animals. The horses had 




INDIAN IMAGE OF STONE, 
FROM SANTO DOMINGO. 



THE INFANT SETTLEMENT. 131 

been on the ship three months, and were very much in 
need of pasture and a firm footing. A Httle city, named 
Isabella, was laid out with a square and streets. A 
church, a store-house, and a house for the admiral were 
begun of stone, a stone wall without mortar was to be 
laid around the town, while the other houses were made 
of wood and reeds, like the Indian cabins. Seeds were 
planted, and every one worked very hard, while Colum- 
bus " multiplied himself " to superintend the labor. 

Before long the malarial fevers, incident to a new 
land and a warm climate, smote the little settlement. 
The settlers were landed in a bad condition to withstand 
illness, for they had been three months on shipboard, 
living on salt meat and moldy sea biscuit. It required 
years of experience to teach colonists to eat the light 
vegetable food of the Indians, which was more whole- 
some in a warm climate than their own heavier diet. The 
Spaniards thought that they could not live without wine 
and salt meat. They were glad enough just now, how- 
ever, to get the yams with which the Indians came 
loaded every day. These people would sell provisions, 
and even gold, to the colonists for tags off of shoe strings, 
beads, pins, or pieces of broken dishes. 

And now for the first time the white men began to 
be better acquainted with the Indians. The native men 
were entirely naked, the women usually wore grass and 
leaves about their hips, while the more ostentatious had 
a covering of cotton cloth. For full-dress occasions, 
men and women painted themselves in various colors, 
decorating their bodies with crosses and with pictures 
of animals and cabins, which produced an effect ridicu- 
lous enough to the eyes of the new-comers. The Indians 



132 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



also shaved some parts of their heads, and left long tufts 
of matted hair hanging in other places. " In short," 
said Dr. Chanca, describing them in a letter, " whatever 
would be looked upon in our country as characteristic 
of a madman is here regarded by the highest of the In- 
dians as a mark of distinction." 

These people had hatchets and axes made of stone, 
and very handsomely finished, so that the white men 
wondered at them. They lived 
mostly on cassava bread. This was 
made of the root of the yucca, 
often called the Spanish bayonet. 
The root was scraped and strained 
in a press. The liquor which 
drained from it was poisonous. 
The pulp was made into a broad, 
thin cake, which could be kept 
a long time. When the Indian 
wished to eat it he steeped it in 
water. The savages also ate yams, 
fc" seasoned with agi-pepper and they 
had besides what Dr. Chanca de- 
scribed as "a kind of grain like 
hazel nuts, very good to eat." Of course, this was 
Indian corn. The meat of the Indians was fish, utias 
or little rabbits about as big as a rat, together with 
birds, to which they added " lizards, spiders and worms," 
according to Dr. Chanca. " To my fancy," said the 
good doctor, " their bestiality is greater than that of 
any beast upon the earth." This is the near view of 
the American Indian, and quite different from the 
poetical ideas about these people wliich Columbus had 




INDIAN FIGIJIK IX WOOL) 
FROM SANTO DOMINGO. 



THE INFANT SETTLEMENT. 



133 




'S^ fS^I^' 




entertained at first. The lizards with which Dr. Chanca 
was so much disgusted were iguanas, which sometimes 
grow to be five feet long. 
The iguana, which is a sort 
of lizard with a tail like a 
lance, can climb trees, not- 
withstanding its size. It 
is still thought to be very 
good eating in the countries 
where it is found. 

Alligators were also 
classed as lizards by the 
Spaniards. They found 
that on a small island near 
Hispaniola there was what 
they called a lizard '' as big 
around as a calf," with a 
tail "as long as a lance." 
The men often went out to try to kill it, but were sur- 
prised to find that though it was so bulky, it got into 
the sea quickly enough. This was their first introduc- 
tion to an alligator, the name of which is derived from 
the Spanish words " el lagarto,^' that is " the lizard." 

The Indians had queer little figures of wood, cotton, 
or stone in their cabins which they called zemis, giving 
them the names of dead ancestors and holding them in 
superstitious reverence. When the white men asked 
the natives what these were, they would say " turey^' 
which meant " of heaven," or more properly sacred or 
mysterious. They also called the strange things belong- 
ing to the white men " turey.''^ Dr. Chanca once pre- 
tended that he was going to throw one of these figures 



INDIAN FIGl'RE ()F COTTON, LEATH- 
ER, ETC., FROM SANTO DOMINGO. 



134 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 




into the fire, upon which the Indians fell to weeping, 
very much grieved. Sometimes they carried their zemis 
off into the w^oods and hid them, lest the white men 
should take possession of them. It was not uncommon, 
however, for them to steal these prized images of one 
another. The chief kept his zemi in a cabin devoted to 
the purpose. The Spaniards once entered 
one of these cabins and found the presid- 
ing zemi speaking. The white men were 
skeptical, and, examining the mouth of 
the deity, they found it contained a small 
tube, which they traced to a heap of leaves 
in the corner of the cabin, under w^hich 
lay an Indian, who was engaged in putting 
words into the mouth of the idol. The 
chief begged the white men not to expose 
his tricks, as he was enabled to govern his 
j:^ people by means of the commands of this 
convenient zemi. 

The natives performed some rites in 
the cabins devoted to the worship of these 
little figures. In the center of the hut was 
a carved trencher, on which was placed a 
fine powder, probably tobacco or snuff. 
The worshiper put some of this powder 
with a certain ceremony on the head of 
the image, and then breathed a portion of 
it into his own nostrils through two hol- 
low reeds, pronouncing some strange w^ords 
at the same time. 
The Indians had various funeral customs. The body 
of a chief was often opened and dried before the fire ; in 






INDIAN IMAGE OF 

STONE, FROM 

SANTO DOMINGO. 



THE INFANT SETTLEMENT. I35 

other cases the head only was preserved and, again, the 
body was carried to a cave and left there with a gourd 
of water and a little bread placed beside it. In other 
instances the body was burned with the cabin of the 
dead man. These Indians had a habit of strangling 
those who were near death, though sometimes they car- 
ried them away from their cabins and left them hang- 
ing in their hammocks with a little bread and water 
beside them. 

Such relics of these island people as have come 
down to us — idols, masks, collars, mortars, weapons, 
and tools — show wonderful workmanship, the highest 
degree of skill, it is said, that can be attained by men 
pecking things out of stone with stone implements. 

While the Spaniards were noting the customs of the 
Indians, the latter were making their own shrewd obser- 
vations with regard to the manners and morals of their 
new neighbors. " Behold the Christians' god ! " they 
said pointing to bits of gold. 



136 THE STORY OF COLL^MBUS. 



CHAPTEK XXIIL 

LOOKING FOR GOLD. 

Columbus had chosen the place for the city of Isa- 
bella, because he thought that it was nearer to the 
mountains of Cibao, where the Indians said there was 
gold. On his departure from Spain he had expected to 
send back a valuable lading of the precious metal, which 
was to have been gathered by the settlers at La Navidad. 
As the men had been , massacred, whatever gold they 
may have collected must have been carried off by the 
Indians. Columbus wished at least to send back some 
good news. He was ill himself of the same fever that 
troubled so many of his men, but he resolved to send 
Alonzo de Ojeda, with fifteen men, to the place the In- 
dians had told about, to see if there was any gold there. 
The Spaniards had heard so much about the dreadful 
Caonabo, or "lord of the golden house," as his name 
meant, that they were afraid of him, and Ojeda was 
no doubt chosen on account of his courage. This 
Ojeda had once amused Queen Isabella in the follow- 
ing fashion : The queen was in a great church tower 
in Seville, called the Giralda. High up in the air a 
beam extended out from the tower. From this beam 
the people below looked like ants. Ojeda walked 
briskly out on the beam, quite as though he were 



LOOKING FOR GOLD. 



137 



walking about his own chamber. When he got to the 

end of it, he stood on one foot for a moment and then, 

turning about, walked back 

again. He next stood on the 

beam, braced one foot against 

the w^all of the tower and threw 

an orange to the top of it. 

This feat had attracted a good 

deal of attention, but Ojeda 

was really doing a braver thing 

when he ventured into the 

country of a chief who had 

slain the first company of 

Spaniards that had gone there 

to look for gold. 

Ojeda and his men had to f^^^ 
cross many rivers before they 
reached the mountains. They 
followed an Indian trail and 
climbed up into the mountain 
country. No Caonabo appeared 
to stop the way, and the Indians 
were friendly. They w^ashed 
grains of gold out of the sands 
of the brooks and gave them 
freely to the white men. There 
was certainly gold here. Ojeda 
and his men picked up some 
nuggets, one of which weighed 
nine ounces. They were sure 
that there must be a great deal of ore in the mountains, 
for the Indians dug no deeper than the length of a hand 







Mil 



"^>^'! 




THE GIRALDA TOWER, SEVILLE. 



138 THE STORY OP COLUMBUS. 

in looking for it. Ojeda and his men went back with 
their specimens of gold. The next day, another young 
gentleman, named Gorvalan, who had been to another 
place where the Indians said there was gold, returned 
with specimens of the metal. There was great excite- 
ment in the settlement. Columbus wrote a very hope- 
ful letter to send back to Spain. Dr. Chanca also 
wrote in his letter that "the king and queen might 
now consider themselves the most wealthy sovereigns 
in the world," for, said he, " on the return of the ships 
from their next voyage they wdll be able to take back 
such a quantity of gold as will fill with amazement all 
who hear of it." So twelve ships sailed back to Spain, 
laden only with the news of gold mines, of laurel trees 
whose bark smelled like cinnamon, of trees bearing bees- 
wax or producing wool and cotton, and other marvels 
such as men can always see in a beautiful new land be- 
fore they have had time to put their new discoveries 
to the test. 

One of the things that Columbus wrote in the letter 
that he sent back in these ships was a proposal that the 
Spaniards should capture the natives of the Caribbee 
Islands and send them to Spain as slaves, exchanging 
them for cattle, which the people at Hispaniola would 
need very much. lie argued that this would be an 
advantage to the savage slaves, since they would become 
Christians in this way and learn not to eat their fellow- 
men. As the Portuguese made slaves of the negroes of 
Africa, it is not strange that Columbus should have 
thought of making slaves of the Indians. Indeed, the 
poorer classes in Europe were held at this time in a sort 
of bondage, and there was no sentiment in favor of hu- 



LOOKING FOR GOLD. I39 

man liberty. The great discoverer at this time planted 
the seeds of slavery in these beautiful islands. In the 
hands of cruel and greedy adventurers, this slavery was 
soon to sweep away the whole Indian population. 

While Columbus was still ill of malarial fever a 
plot was formed against him among some of the men of 
Isabella. Already the colonists had begun to be home- 
sick. They found that there were no sudden fortunes 
to be picked up in the Xew World, while there was a 
great deal of hard work, for which they had not bar- 
gained. A man named Cedo, who was an assayer of 
metals, gave it out as his opinion that there was no gold 
on the island, or at least so little that it was not worth 
looking for. When the Indians brought large grains 
of gold, he said that they had been melted and had been 
a long time gathering, having been handed down from 
generation to generation among the natives. The 
malcontents made a plot, under the lead of an officer 
named Bernal Diaz, to seize the ships in the harbor 
and sail to Spain. But Columbus, hearing of tlie 
scheme, put the leader in prison and punished some 
of the others. 

The admiral, having now pretty well recovered from 
his illness, got ready to make a journey in person to 
Cibao. For fear of any more mutinies, he had all the 
arms and ammunition in the town stored in one of the 
vessels in the harbor. He then gave his brother Diego 
command of Isabella while he should be gone. Colum- 
bus wanted to make quite a display and overawe the In- 
dians this time, so he took four hundred men with him, 
and he caused them all to be dressed in the most brilliant 
colors and march to the sound of drums and trumpets, 



140 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

with banners flying, followed by a train of Indians from 
around Isabella. 

The little army set out on the 12th of March, 1494, 
and marched for the first day through a plain and across 
two rivers. At night they camped at the foot of a 
rocky pass, through the Monte Christo Mountain range, 
which Columbus named El Puerto de los Hidalgos, or 
the Pass of the Gentlemen, because some cavaliers had 
gone ahead and opened the road for the others to pass 
through. The next day men, horses, and mules climbed 
up the pass. "When they reached the summit they 
looked down upon many leagues of beautiful plain 
beyond, crossed here and there by the silver thread of 
a stream, columns of smoke rising from Indian cabins, 
graceful palms and other noble tropical trees growing 
everywhere, while the whole charming stretch of level 
land was bordered by the hazy lines of distant mount- 
ains. This grand valley, which is famous to-day for its 
noble beauty, was named by Columbus the Yega Real, 
or Poyal Plain. 

The Spaniards descended the slope and began to 
march through the Yega Real. Columbus ordered the 
horsemen to go first because the Indians were very 
much awestricken at the sight of horse and rider. In 
fact, they thought that horse and man were all one ani- 
mal, and were quite astonished when they saw the animal 
walking around in two divisions, as it seemed to them 
when the men dismounted. The savages had, in fact, 
no good opinion of horses. Such large animals, they 
felt certain, would eat them. 

There were many Indian villages in the Yega. The 
little round cabins were built of reeds with thatched 



LOOKING FOR GOLD. 141 

roofs, and dooi'S so low that the inmates had to go on all 
fours in entering them. As the brilliant army neared 
an Indian village, horsemen in advance, banners flying 
and trumpets and drums sounding, the simple natives 
fled or crept in at the doorways of their cabins, barring 
them with a few reeds. The Indians who had come 
with tlie Spaniards from Isabella walked into a native 
house and helped themselves to anything they might 
And in it, without any ceremony. The owner never 
showed any displeasure, but when the Indians tried this 
practice among the whites, they were soon made to un- 
derstand that it was not a Christian custom. 

The army presently arrived at a river whicli Colum- 
bus named the River of Reeds. Tlie Spaniards en- 
camped for the night on the beautiful banks of this 
stream. Before sleeping they bathed in its waters. 
In the morning they crossed in canoes or on rafts, and 
swam their horses over. The next day they marched 
through magnificent forests, where they saw many 
strange fruits which they tried to imagine the same as 
fruits they had known in Spain. Columbus named the 
next stream that he crossed the River of Gold, because 
some particles of gold were found in its sands. The 
third river that lay in his course ran across translucent 
pebbles, which gave it a green look, so Columbus called 
it Green River. All of these streams were the Yaqui 
or its tributaries. Tlie following day the army reached 
the foot of some steep mountains, that the discoverer 
called the Gates of Cibao. The next day the march was 
through a rough and rugged country. Often riders 
had to descend from their horses and scramble up steep 
places, leading their animals. From this point Cohim- 
11 



142 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



bus sent back some mules to Isabella to bring more 
provisions, for the journey had been longer than he had 
expected, and the Spaniards thought that they could not 
eat the Indian food. The following day found the little 
army in the country of Cibao, which was very dilierent 



.Isabella 



.^''"■//^ 










MAP OF THE KOTJTE FROM ISABELLA TO CIBAO. 



from the Royal Plain. This was a land of rocks, cov- 
ered only with such plants as could grow in a stony soil, 
with a few pine and palm trees here and there, while 
little streams carrying particles of gold in their sands 
ran down from the mountains. The Indians met the 
Spaniards with presents of provisions and grains of 
gold which they liad gathered in the streams for them. 
Columbus made up his mind to build a fort in this 
country, so that the Spaniards would have a place in 
which to store their gold and to take refuge in, in case 
of an attack. He named his proposed fort St. Thomas, 
as a sort of pious jest, because the discontented ones at 
Isabella had doubted the existence of gold here unless 
they might see it and touch it. When the men were 



LOOKING FOR GOLD. I43 

digging for the foundations of this fort thej came across 
what seemed to them a sort of nest of straw, in which 
were, in place of eggs, several round stones as large as 
oranges which seemed to have been worked by the hand 
of man. The Spaniards wondered at these, and thought 
they looked as though they were meant for cannon balls, 
for stone cannon balls were used in Europe at that 
time. It is likely that they were really stone heads for 
Indian war clubs, which had been hidden here or per- 
haps buried with some Indian as his cherished treas- 
ures. Such round stones were also used sometimes to 
crush the grains of Indian corn. 



144 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTEE XXIV. 

TROUBLES OF THE COLONY. 

Columbus left a captain named Pedro Margarite 
and fifty-six men to build Fort St. Thomas, and began 
tlie journey back to Isabella. At Green Kiver lie met 
his mules returning with provisions. They had lost 
some time at the Kiver of Gold, because it was swollen 
by rains and there had been trouble about crossing it. 
When Columbus reached the River of Gold, he had to 
stop there some time himself to wait for the w^ater to 
fall. The people brought him food, and sold it to him 
for trifles. Columbus and some of the wiser Spaniards 
began to eat the food of the country in order to set a 
good example to the others. 

It was the 29th of March when the admiral got 
back to Isabella. He was much pleased to And that 
melons which had been planted less than two months 
before, were now ripe. In twenty days cucumbers 
had grown large enough to eat, while a wild vine 
which had been trimmed was loaded with grapes, green 
peas were ready for picking, and some wheat had ripened. 
Every seed that was put into the rich soil sprang up, 
fruit stones germinated, and sugar-canes grew, so that 
Columbus found every reason to be delighted with the 
fertilitv of the beautiful island. 



TKOUELES OF THE COLONY. I45 

The colony was not so prosperous, however, as its 
fields and gardens. The moist, warm climate w^hich 
made things grow^ so fast was not suited to Europeans. 
There was a great deal of sickness, and there had been 
many deaths. The young Spanish gentlemen of noble 
families who had come over expecting to get suddenly 
rich, or at least to have some fine adventures, w^ere dis- 
gusted when Columbus made them do their share of 
work with the commoner sort of people in the building 
of the town. They remembered that the admiral was a 
foreigner, and only a peasant by birth, and they hated 
him. When men grew sick there was no one to nurse 
them, and they died of fever and homesickness. Co- 
lumbus, as the head of the colony, was likely to be 
blamed for the misfortunes which befell these young 
gentlemen. The gloomy end of so many men of good 
families was long remembered in Hispaniola. Years 
after this, when Isabella had been abandoned, because 
it was unhealthy, there was a story that two Spaniards 
once wandered into the deserted town. In one of its 
grass-grown streets they saw two rows of hidalgos, or 
Spanish gentlemen, in old-fashioned dress. The two 
Spaniards were astonished to see strangers in this lonely 
place, and asked them wdio they were and where they 
came from. The gentlemen did not answer, but politely 
raised their hands to their heads to take oft' their hats 
by way of salute. Horrible to relate, their heads came 
oft with their hats, and the headless gentlemen presently 
had the good taste to vanish. The beholders, according 
to the story, almost fell dead with fright, and after this 
the tale of the dead gentlemen w^ho w^ere so polite as to 
doff their heads became the stock ghost story of the 



146 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

island. It serves to show how long and vividly the 
misfortunes of these early settlers were remembered in 
Hispaniola. 

Colnmbus had hardly reached Isabella on his return 
when he had news from Fort St. Thomas that all the 
Indians had fled from the country, and that Caonabo 
was coming to burn the fort. The admiral was not 
greatly alarmed by this news. He was meditating a 
voyage of discovery, for he had not given up his notion 
that he was on one of the islands at the eastern extreme 
of Asia, and that by going westward he nnist reach a 
civilized country. He began to make ready for the 
voyage. Provisions were running low at Isabella. The 
biscuits were almost gone, and the flour was used up. 
There was some wheat, but there w^ere no mills to grind 
it in. The colonists were starving in a bountiful land. 
In order to give them something to do, so that they 
might not be brewing mischief, and hoping to get them 
used to eating the food of the country, Columbus made 
all the able-bodied men in Isabella, except a few work- 
men whom he wanted to build mills and some sailors 
for the ships, into a little army, and sent them to march 
through the island and overawe the Indians. He sent 
this body of men as far as Cibao under the charge of 
Ojeda. When this captain reached Fort St. Thomas 
he was to take command of this fort, and let Pedro 
Margarite take the lead of the little army. 

Ojeda had got no farther than the River of Gold 
before he got into trouble with the Indians. Three 
Spaniards going from Cibao to Isabella had been 
granted by a chief three Indians to carry their baggage 
over the river. "When the three Indian porters had 



TROUBLES OF THE COLONY. 147 

got half -way across the river, they turned and ran away 
with the bundles of the S]3aniards. The native king, 
instead of punishing his thievish subjects, took posses- 
sion of the bundles himself, in all simplicity. The 
Spaniards demanded their property in vain. Ojeda, 
appearing on the scene, cut off the ears of one of the 
thieves and sent nearly the whole royal family in irons 
to Isabella. Columbus thought best to make an example 
of these fellows, to save the Spaniards from further 
trouble. A chief, who lived near the unlucky one whom 
Columbus was about to punish, came to Isabella in a 
great hurry, to beg for mercy for his friend. This chief 
had been very kind to the white men, but Columbus, 
nevertheless, had his prisoners taken to the public square 
to have their heads cut off. The friendly chief begged 
with many tears for the lives of the captives, and Co- 
lumbus finally forgave them. 

Having settled the affairs of the colony as well as he 
could, Columbus set sail on the 2tl:th of April, in his 
three smaller vessels, to look for Asia. 



148 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. 

^9J^. 

The admiral, having heard that Guacanagari had 
come back to his old home, stopped at the harbor of La 
Navidad to see him. The chief, however, took a hasty 
leave when he saw the ships appear. So Columbus 
sailed on for Cuba. He thought that Cuba was part of 
the main-land of Asia, and he wanted to know more 
about it and especially to claim it for Spain before the 
Portuguese should reach it by the opposite route. He 
soon approached the eastern end, which is now called 
Point Maysi. From this place the admiral set out to 
sail along the southern shore of Cuba. After coasting 
for some distance he anchored in a harbor which is 
now called Guantanamo. The entrance to this harbor 
was narrow, but within it seemed like a lake surround- 
ed by mountains and bordered by blossoming trees. 
Columbus could see two cabins built of reeds, and the 
smoke of fires on the beach. He landed with some 
armed men and the San Salvador Indian, who went 
along as interpreter, but the wigwams were empty and 
the fires had been deserted. Apparently the Spaniards 
had broken up a feast. There were fish, utias or little 
rabbits, and guanas or big lizards, hanging on the trees 
or roasting over the fires. As the Spaniards had been 



THE VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. 



149 



living meagerlj of late, -tliej sat down to eat without 
more ado, though they left the guanas untouched, for 
they considered them a kind of serpent, and felt much 
disgust at the thought of eating them. After tliey had 
feasted, the men, strolling about in the woods, happened 
on seventy Indians liuddled together upon the top of a 
high rock. When the Spaniards tried to get near them 
they fled, with the exception of one very bold man, 
who stood ready to run at the first sign of danger. The 
Indian interpreter was sent out to talk with this brave. 




MAP OF THE VOTAGE ALONG THE COAST OF CUBA. 



The interpreter having satisfied the natives that their 
strange-looking visitors meant them no harm, they pres- 
ently came forth from their hiding-places. Their chief, 
they said, had sent them to the sea-shore to get fish for 
a feast which he w^as going to give to another chief, and 
they were cooking the provisions as the only means of 
keeping them from spoiling in a warm climate. The 
savages gave themselves no trouble because the strangers 
had eaten their food. They said that one night's fishing 
would make that good. Columbus, however, paid them 
in beads and hawkbells, so that white men and Indians 



150 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

parted very good friends, after a hearty hand-sliaking 
all around. 

As the ships sailed along the coast crowds of Indians 
— men, women, and children — looked at them from the 
land. They held up fruits and provisions to tempt 
the strange voyagers ashore, and sometimes they pad- 
dled out in their canoes, bringing cassava bread, fish, 
and calabashes of fresh water as offerings to the heav- 
enly beings. The admiral never failed to send the 
simple creatures away happy with gifts of trifles. He 
dropped anchor again in another noble harbor. Here 
there were Indian villages and cultivated spots of ground 
wdiich looked in the distance like orchards and gardens. 
We must remember that Columbus and his men were 
always straining their eyes to see some sign of the civ- 
ilization of eastern Asia. The people of this bay were 
as friendly as possible. The admiral asked them where 
gold was to be found. They directed him to a large 
island south of them. Columbus was tempted to go out 
of his course to look for this island. He steered directly 
south. Presently the lovely shores of Jamaica came in 
view. He thought this the most delightful land he had 
yet seen. 

It is strange to see how variously the Indians were 
affected by the first sight of white men. In some places 
they fled, in others they came out to meet their visitors 
with perfect confidence, while in still other places they 
were disposed to fight. The Indians of Jamaica met 
the ships in a fleet of large canoes, giving the war- 
whoop, and threatening the Spaniards with their wooden 
lances. Columbus, as usual, avoided a battle. He 
wished to make friends with them and learn something 



THE VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. 151 

from them about the world in which they lived. Look- 
ing for a harbor where he could get fresh water and 
careen one of his ships to calk her, he found a bay 
where the savages were very fierce. They were decked 
with black war-paint and gayly colored feathers, and 
they threw their spears at the white men and yelled in 
true Indian style. As it was necessary to get rid of 
these furious fellows before the shijJ could be hauled 
ashore and careened, Columbus sent some cross-bow men 
in the boats to attack them. Spanish arrows fired from 
cross-bows soon threw the w^arriors into confusion. The 
men then landed, let fly another volley, and set a fierce 
dog on the Indians. This is the first time that we hear 
of a dog being used in Indian warfare ; it was, in fact, 
a custom brought from Europe, where the use of these 
animals in war was not unknown. Large dogs were 
new to the natives, who had only small dogs that could 
not bark. 

Columbus named the island Santiago, but it has re- 
tained its more beautiful Indian name of Jamaica. The 
Indians, after they had been cured of their first fury, 
were friendly enough, bringing the Spaniards plenty of 
fresh provisions. These people had very large " dug- 
out " canoes, made of immense mahogany trees. These 
were carved and painted at the bow and stern. It is 
said that one of these canoes was ninety-six feet long 
and eight feet wide. Columbus did not stay long at 
Jamaica. Probably he did not find the prospect of 
gold sufiicient to tempt him to give up his search for 
India along the coast of Cuba. Just as he was about 
leaving Jamaica an adventurous young Indian came out 
to the ships and begged to go with the white men. His 



152 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

family followed him, imploring liim not to go, but lie 
persisted. He sailed away with the Spaniards, and we 
do not know what became of him. 

Columbus crossed again to Cuba, steering for a cape 
which he named Cabo de la Cruz, or Cape of the Cross, 
and the cape is still called by this name. He landed at 
a large native town. The chief of this place told him 
that when the Spaniards sailed along the northern 
shore of Cuba, on the first voyage of Columbus, the 
Indians who had seen the white men told the news 
from one to another, and that it had reached him. The 
admiral asked these savages wdiether Cuba was an island 
or a continent. They answered that it was an island, 
but so large that no one had ever seen the end of it. 
This answer left Columbus as uncertain as ever. He 
sailed on west, and presently found himself in a very 
large bay or gulf. A severe thunder-storm struck him 
here. This tempest put the ships in a good deal of 
danger while it lasted, because there were many sand- 
banks and keys or little rocky islands in this bay. The 
farther the ships sailed, the more of these islands there 
were. The sailor at the mast-head could see them as 
far as his eyesight reached. Some w^ere small and 
bare, others were green, while still others were covered 
wdth forest trees. It was a very beautiful sight, and 
Columbus called this the Queen's Garden. The Queen's 
Garden was, however, a very dangerous place for ships, 
and the admiral hardly dared to sleep night or day, for 
fear of another accident like that which had happened 
on his first voyage. He might have stood farther out 
to sea and avoided these keys, but he remembered that 
Marco Polo had described the coast of Asia as having 



TflE VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. 153 

a great many islands near it, and he expected soon to 
reach some rich country. It was a most anxious time 
for Columbus, for often the ships had to be towed out 
of a dangerous place, while sometimes they actually 
touched upon sand-banks in spite of all his care. 

While the admiral was sailing among these islands 
he came upon some Indian fishermen, who were too 
much absorbed in their pursuit to be frightened at the 
sight of the strange vessels. Thej motioned for the 
whites to keep still and not disturb their fishing. So 
the Spaniards watched them a while. The Indians tied 
a line to the tail of a small fish which had hooked fins 
u]>on its back. The story goes that these fish very 
obligingly went and hooked themselves into the bodies 
of large fish ; but it seems more likely that the large fish 
swallowed the little fish, and so got caught themselves. 
The Spaniards invited the fishermen on board. The 
Indians gave the whites their fish, and would have given 
them their fishing-tackle and the gourds in which they 
carried their drinking-water, but Columbus would not 
take these. He made the fishermen happy by some 
cheap presents. 

The ships sailed on, the men still admiring the little 
islands, on some of which they saw brilliant flamingoes, 
while on others were tortoises. They observed that 
these creatures laid their eggs in the sand and left them 
there to be hatched by the heat of the sun. 

After the hot tropical day in these regions the 
clouds gathered at sunset every evening and there was 
a terrible thunder-shower, which cleared away when 
the moon rose. The nightly tempests gave Columbus 
a great deal of anxiety in these dangerous shallows. 



15i THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTEK XXYI. 

ALONG THE COAST OF CUBA. 

For a little time Columbus found it clear sailing, 
having got out of the Queen's Garden at last. He 
stopped at a large Indian village for food and water. 
The natives brought the white men some kind of a bird 
to eat, which they took for a dove. Finding that these 
birds had a peculiar taste, Columbus had the crop of 
one of them opened, and thought that it contained 
sweet spices. As spices were wished for next to gold, 
the admiral believed this a good sign. He tried at this 
place, as usual, to find out what the Indians knew of 
the geography of the land that they lived in. The old 
chief of the village said that farther on there were a 
great many more islands, and that the sea was shallow. 
The Indians had never heard, they said, that Cuba had 
any end to the west — at least, they were certain that one 
could not reach the end in forty moons. They said 
that there was a country west of here called Mangon, 
where one might learn more about it. 

Mangon, Columbus thought, sounded like Mangi, 
which was the name of the southern part of China, ac- 
cording to Marco Polo. He asked the Indians more 
about it, and got from them some story about the people 
who lived there having tails and wearing clothes to 



ALONG THE COAST OF CUBA. 155 

hide tliem. In triitli, Columbus had got into a region 
of romance once more, for he had reached a land where 
his interpreter could not understand the language of the 
natives, and so conversation was carried on by signs. 
I^ow, Columbus remembered that Sir John Mandeville, 
the Englishman who had traveled in Asia after Marco 
Polo, had said that some of the naked tribes of Asia 
believed that the people who wore clothes did so to 
conceal tails, as they could think of no other reason for 
wearing clothes. 

Ever hopeful, and expecting soon to reach a country 
where people went clothed, Columbus presently came 
to a sea rendered milky in color by line white sand 
mixed with the w^ater. The ships w^ere soon entangled 
among many little islands again, but Columbus pushed 
ahead, believing himself on the eve of making some 
notable discovery. He stopped in a great bay, and sent 
some men ashore for water. The forests were so high 
and thick that it was impossible to tell whether there 
were any people living here or not. While the men 
were filling the water barrels, one Spaniard scrambled 
about in the woods with his cross-bow, looking for game. 
He came running back to his companions and said that 
he had seen some thirty Indians, among whom were 
three white men, one of whom w^as dressed in a long 
white robe, while two wore tunics down to their knees. 
He said that he had shouted for his companions, for he 
w^as afraid to meet so many alone, and with that the 
whole troop had fled. The sailors all took refuge in 
the ships immediately, for there seemed to be some- 
thing terrifying to them in the idea of meeting men in 
clothes. As for Columbus, he was pleased to hear the 



156 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

story, for lie thought that he was now about to find a 
civihzed conntiy, or that at least there was a civilized 
land in the interior. 

The next day the admiral sent an armed party of 
men on shore, telling them to go forty miles inland, if 
need be, to iind these men who wore clothing. They 
traveled through the forest until they came to a plain 
overgrown with tall and matted grass, in which they 
became so tangled that they presently returned. But 
Columbus did not give it up, and sent another party 
out the next day. These men had not gone far before 
they found the track of some large animal. It was no 
doubt the foot-prints of an alligator, but they took it 
for the tracks of nothing less than a lion or a griffin, 
and made a hasty retreat for the ships. They had 
found on their trip great cranes feeding in natural 
meadows, had smelled spicy odors, and had seen im- 
mense grape-vines climbing up the trees. Columbus 
afterward sent some clusters of grapes from this part of 
Cuba to Ferdinand and Isabella, as well as some of the 
water of the milky sea. 

The admiral sailed on until he came to some Indian 
cabins. The natives were naked, l)ut Columbus was 
not dismayed by this, as he imagined that they were 
only fishing tribes, and that more civilized people 
lived inland. These Indians brought out provisions 
to the ships. Columbus tried to learn something from 
one of them about the country, but as he had to talk 
by signs, he got a queer story as usual. This time 
it was a tale of a chief living in the mountains, who 
wore a long white robe and spoke only by signs. Be- 
yond this place the admiral found only a lonely coast 



ALONG THE COAST OF CUBA. I57 

where no human beings were to be seen. Still, he did 
not for a moment doubt that he was near the civilized 
parts of Asia. He made a plan for exploration which 
was worthy of his great mind. He would continue on 
past India to the Ked Sea and so cross over to Joppa 
on the Mediterranean, and sail back to Spain, or, better 
still, sail clear around Africa and beat the Portuguese 
on tlieir own ground. In this way Columbus thought 
to be the first man to go around the world. This 
was a noble plan, and perhaps Columbus would have 
tried to carry it out if he could. He would then 
have found that Cuba was only an island, and would 
have discovered the main-land of America lying in his 
way, if he had sailed on to the west ; and in reaching 
Mexico he might have found something like the civil- 
ization that he was looking for, as well as gold enough 
to fulfill the hopes of Spain. But his ships were very 
leaky, his stock of sea-biscuit was scanty and spoiled by 
being wet, and his men, incapable of his great concep- 
tions, were clamorous to return to Hispaniola. 

Columbus sailed westward until the 13th of June, 
and still found no end to Cuba. Tlie sailors agreed 
with him that this was no doubt the main-land of Asia. 
But before he turned back, the admiral sent a notary 
around the three ships to take the oath of every man 
that Cuba was the continent of Asia. This seems a 
strange thing to do, but Columbus began to find out 
that his men could tell different tales about his discov- 
eries under different circumstances. Everybody, down 
to the ships' boys, took their oath, and it was then pro- 
claimed that if an officer contradicted this statement he 
was to pay a fine of ten thousand maravedis, while a 
12 



158 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

common sailor would get a hundred lashes and have his 
tongue cut out. 

While this strange Old World proceeding was go- 
ing on to prove that Cuba was a continent, it is said 
that a ship's boy at the mast-head might have looked 
over the islands and seen the Gulf of Mexico beyond. 
But Columbus turned back, and as he steered south- 
east he discovered the large Island of Pines. 



THE RETURN TO HISPANIOLA. 159 



CHAPTER XXYII. 

THE EETUEN TO HISPANIOLA. 

Columbus stopped at the Island of Pines for wood 
and water. He tried to sail around the south side of 
this island to get away from the little keys, but he got 
into a deep lagoon instead of a channel, and had to go 
back. The men were much discontented at having to 
sail back ever so little. Having got out of the lagoon, 
Columbus went around the north of the island, where 
the ships sailed through a milky sea and an inky sea. 
Again they must worm their way through dangerous 
passages between little islands. Once the admiral's 
ship ran aground. It was imj)Ossible to pull her off 
the bar, and she had to be towed over, which strained 
her badly and made her more leaky than ever. 

The little vessels at last reached open water. Sweet 
odors came from the shores. On the lonely coast where 
they had been the men had to live on a pound of 
moldy sea-biscuit and a small measure of wine a day. 
They were glad enough now to anchor in the mouth 
of a river and feast on utias, birds, cassava bread, and 
tropical fruits brought to them by the Indians. Co- 
lumbus had a wooden cross put up here, as he did in 
many other places, by way of taking possession. After 
the cross had been put up mass was said. The old 



1(30 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

chief of the couiitrj " assisted very decently " at the 
mass by making various motions. When the ceremony 
was over he gave the Spaniards to understand that he 
comprehended perfectly that they were thanking God, 
and that he knew that the souls of the good would go to 
heaven, while the body would return to the earth. He 
said that he had visited Jamaica and Hispaniola and 
knew^ the principal people on these islands, and that he 
had traveled to the east of Cuba, w^iere there was a 
chief who wore a robe like the Spanish priests. As 
this Indian king said all this by signs, we may be per- 
mitted to doubt whether he said anything of the sort, 
and believe that what he really said was something 
quite different. When Cuba came to be better known, 
no people were found in it who wore clothes, so that 
the tales of people who wore robes grew no doubt 
out of the strong belief of the white men that they were 
in Asia. 

From this river Cohmibus struck out more to sea, 
to avoid the shallows of the shore. On the 6th of 
July there set in a terrible rain which seemed like an- 
other deluge. AVhat with leaking from below and 
with rain from above, the ships were pretty nearly sub- 
merged. The poor sailors toiled at the pumps without 
any apparent effect. Columbus and his men suffered 
very much, for they had to support all the work and 
anxiety of the voyage on spoiled and scanty food. 
When they got fresh provisions from the natives they 
could not keep them over one night, so warm w^as the 
climate. Columbus, w^orn out by his trials, vowed that 
he would never subject himself to such vexations again. 

After eleven weary days the ships made land at 



THE RETURN TO HISPANIOLA. 101 

Cape Cruz. The Indians brought them cassava bread, 
fish, fruits, and otlier things to eat, and the hungry 
men were comforted for a time. Necessity liad made 
them begin to like the native food. The wind was 
contrary for sailing to Hispaniola, and so Columbus 
struck over to Jamaica and coasted the southern shore 
of this island. Perhaps he had not yet given up his 
notion that there was gold on this island. He beat to 
the east for nearly a month along the shore of Jamaica, 
the winds being very unfavorable. The enthusiastic 
explorer was delighted with this his last discovery. 
The natives were now very fi-iendly, and came to the 
ships in canoes with provisions. At one place three 
canoes paddled out to meet the ships. In one of these, 
which was carved and painted, was a chief with his 
wife and two daughters. This chief moved in state. 
His attendants wore head-dresses of gay feathers, while 
round his own head were strings of colored stones, with 
a large piece of gold in front. He wore two plates of 
gold hanging from his ears, a string of white beads 
hung around his neck, while he was adorned with a 
belt of colored stones about his waist. His wife was 
decorated with bead ornaments, and wore also a small 
cotton apron, and some cotton bands about the arms 
and legs. The eldest daughter had a girdle of stones, 
but the other one was probably too young for finery, 
for she wore nothing whatever. It is said that this 
chief wished to go away with the Spaniards, but Co- 
lumbus would not take him, knowing how much In- 
dians suffered when they attempted to live in a state of 
civilization. 

It was the 20th of August when Columbus sighted 



162 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

the western end of Hispaniola. He was not sure w^iat 
island it was, until a chief came off to the ships who 
called Columbus by name and used words which he 
had learned of the colonists. The homesick sailors 
were delighted. They were yet, however, a long way 
from Isabella. Columbus lost sight of two of his ships 
at one time, and sent some sailors to climb to the top of 
a small rocky island to look for them. The men did 
not discover the lost ships, but they killed six sea- 
wolves and a number of birds. These creatures were 
so unused to men that they could be knocked over with 
sticks. After six days of waiting the lost vessels re- 
joined the admiral. The little fleet then sailed west- 
ward along the southern shore of the island in view of 
a beautiful plain, where there were many inhabitants. 
Some of the people came out to the ships and told Co- 
lumbus that men from Isabella had visited them. He 
asked them how things went with the colony, and they 
said " Well." Columbus was much relieved when he 
heard this, for he was anxious about the settlement. 
He sent nine men overland to Isabella to carry the 
news that he was coming. 

By the middle of September Columbus was still 
coasting Hispaniola, when he w^as struck by a very bad 
storm. He took refuge behind a small island which 
lay near Hispaniola, but he was very anxious about his 
other ships, which were in the open sea. They rode 
out the storm in safety, however, and joined the admi- 
ral when it was over. The discoverer had planned to 
extend his voyage to some of the Caribbee islands, but 
he had been so anxious and slept so little for sr> long a 
time, that he fell ill of a fever at this point, and lay as 



THE RETURN TO HISPANIOLA. 



163 



though he were dumb, blind, and senseless for many 
days. His men hastened to Isabella with him. 

The first person that the sick discoverer saw when 
he came to consciousness was his brother Bartholomew, 
whom he had not seen for more than eight years. Co- 
lumbus must have been delighted to encounter this 
brother once more, as he seems to have been very fond 
of him. Bartholomew Columbus had come back to 
Spain when he had heard of the great deeds of Chris- 
topher. The king and queen had received him very 
kindly, and had given him the command of some ships 
which were going out with provisions for the colony. 




VIEW Oy THE SOUTHERN COAST OF HISPANIOLA. 



164 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTER XXYIII. 

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE COLONY IN THE ABSENCE OF 
COLUMBUS. 

The sight of his brother was the onl^y pleasant thing 
which happened to the sick discoverer when he reached 
his colony. Everything had been going as badly as 
possible. Pedro Margarite, who had been left by Co- 
lumbus in command of a small army, instead of explor- 
ing the island in accordance with the orders of the ad- 
miral, encamped in the Yega Peal, among the Indians. 
Here the Spaniards acted much as the first colonists on 
the island had done : thej devoured the food of the 
natives, eating more, it was said, in a day than would 
supply a native for a month. They robbed the Indians 
of their wives and led wicked, lawless lives in every 
way. In vain Diego Columbus had remonstrated with 
Margarite. Margarite thought himself above an upstart 
family like that of Columbus. Many of the colonists, 
belonging to great Spanish families, having been an- 
gered that Columbus had forced them to Avork, took the 
part of Margarite. Father Boil, who was the head of 
the priests in the colony, was among the malcontents. 
Margarite and Boil did not think it best to wait for 
Columbus to return, but took themselves off in the ships 
which had been brought over by Bartholomew Colum- 



WHAT HAPPENED IN THE COLONY. I65 

bus. They wished to hurry back to Spain in order to 
tell their tale first to the king and queen. 

Meantime, the soldiers, left to themselves, wandered 
about the island robbing and oppressing the Indians at 
their will. The natives presently began to take revenge 
in true Indian fashion, falling suddenly upon any small 
bands of white men that they might find and massacring 
them. One chief put to death the Spaniards who had 
quartered themselves in his town. After this he set 
fire to a house where there were forty sick men. 

The fierce chief Caonabo thought it a good time to 
attack Fort St. Thomas. But this fort was in the liands 
of Alonzo de Ojeda, and he was quite another sort of a 
man to deal with. He had fought the Moors and been 
engaged in private feuds and duels many times, having 
nevei" yet lost a drop of blood. He always carried with 
him a small painting of the Yirgin, which he believed 
protected him from harm. When he was out on an 
expedition, he would take this picture from his knap- 
sack whenever there was a chance, and, hanofins^ it 
against a tree, say his prayers to it. Like Jolm Smith, 
the warrior of Jamestown, and Miles Standish, the In- 
dian figliter of Plymouth, Ojeda was a little man, but 
very bold and strong. 

Caonabo found Ojeda ready for him. The fort was 
well built, and surrounded by a river on three sides and 
a ditch on the other. Not finding the white men off 
their guard, as they had hoped, there remained noth- 
ing for the natives to do but to starve them out. 
They besieged the fort, but Ojeda gave them plenty to 
do, falling upon them at any favorable moment, and 
slaughtering them right and left at the point of the 



166 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

sword. Indians are never good at a siege. They began 
to fall away one by one, until Caonabo was forced to 
go himself for want of an army. But the chief did not 
give lip his hope of exterminating the white men. He 
prowled around Isabella, and saw how weak it was and 
how many of the people were ill. There were five 
great chiefs in the island, and Caonabo made a plan to 
get them all to join him, in order to get rid of the 
Spaniards once for all. The five chiefs were easily 
persuaded, except our old friend Guacanagari, who once 
more took the part of the white men. As he was the 
chief whose people lived nearest to Isabella, he was an 
important ally. 

After Columbus had returned from his voyage, he 
was sick for some time. He made Bartholomew his 
lieutenant or adelantado, for this brother was a man of 
a great deal more force than Diego. While Columbus 
was still lying ill Guacanagari came to visit him. He 
told Columbus how he had remained friendly to the 
white men in spite of the persuasions of the other chiefs. 
He said that this had made the other chiefs angry with 
him, and they had killed one of his wives and stolen 
another. He wanted Columbus to help him punish his 
enemies. When he talked about the massacre of the 
first colony it was with tears in his eyes, so that Co- 
lumbus began to think as much of Guacanagari as he 
had at first. 

At present the Indians were menacing a small Span- 
ish fort called Magdalena, which was near the great 
Yega. Columbus sent some soldiers to relieve this fort. 
He also sent for the principal chief of this region, whose 
name was Guarionex. He explained to Guarionex that 



WHAT HAPPENED IN THE COLONY. 16t 

he had only sent out these soldiers to reheve his fort 
and punish the chief who had massacred so many Span- 
iards while he was away. He also said that the bad 
actions of the Spaniards while he was away had been 
done in disobedience to his orders. In order to get this 
chief to feel friendly toward tlie settlement, he persuaded 
him to allow his daughter to marry his Indian inter- 
preter, who was a San Salvador Indian. In this way 
Columbus coaxed away another chief from Caonabo. 
He did not know how^ to deal with Caonabo himself, 
however, for it was impossible to hunt him out of his 
mountains, and there was no knowing wdien he might 
fall upon the settlements. At this moment the bold 
little Captain Ojeda offered to go Avith only ten men to 
capture the dreaded chief and bring him alive to Isa- 
bella. Columbus gladly accepted this offer, though it 
was doubtful what would be the outcome of such an 
adventure. 



168 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTEE XXIX. 

ojeda's adventure and the war that followed. 
1494-]495. 

Ojeda chose ten men to go with him, and, after 
arming and mounting them well, set off on his hair- 
brained adventure. He traveled many miles through 
the forests before he reached the home of the mountain 
chief. Probably his picture of the Virgin went with 

him and hung on more than 
one tree by the way. Cao- 
nabo was not alarmed when 
these eleven white men en- 
tered his town, for they 
were too few to do him any 
harm. Ojeda pretended to 
have come on a friendly 
errand from Co- 
lumbus, to bring 
the chief a val- 
/^ uable present. 

The bold Span- 
ish soldier soon 
made himself a prime favorite among the Indians. He 
could do all kinds of feats, to their great admiration, 
and they already knew him to be a great warrior. 

Ojeda took a strange way to coax Caonabo to go to 




OLD CANNON FROM THE FORTRESS OF SANTO 
DOMINGO. 



ir^^^=^--w 




Ojeda praying to his picture oj the Virgin. 



OJEDA'S ADVENTURE. 



169 



the settlement. It seems that the Indians were very 
much charmed with the chapel bell at Isabella. One 
can fancy that an Indian, who delighted in the tinkle of 
hawkbells tied on his arms and legs when he danced, 
would be much pleased with the sound of a large bell. 
The Indians thought that the chapel 
bell was certainly turey^ or supernatural. 
When they saw the Spaniards hurry to 
church at the sound of its ringing they 
imao^ined that the bell talked to them. 
Ojeda now offered to give Caonabo this 
wonderful bell if he would go to Isa- 
bella with him. Caonabo thought he 
would, but he took care to take his war- 
riors along. Ojeda objected that this 
did not look like a friendly visit, but 
Caonabo said that it would not do for a 
person of his importance to go visiting 
with fewer attendants. This was a very 
good excuse, but Ojeda did not like the 
looks of this manoeuvre. He knew that 
Columbus wanted to avoid war and 
either make peace with this chief or 
capture him. He pretended to be sat- 
isfied, however, and traveled on with 
the Indians. When they were near the 
river Yaqui Ojeda one day showed Caonabo a set of 
burnished steel manacles. He told the chief that these 
beautiful ornaments came from the tureij of Biscay, 
Biscay being the Spanish town where iron was manu- 
factured. He also said that these ornaments were worn 
by the kings of Spain at their most solemn dances. 




INDIAN 
BATTLE-AXE. 



170 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



The flattered chief consented to put them on, after hav- 
ing bathed in tlie river. The next step was to persuade 
Caonabo that it would be a fine thing to ride into 
Isabella on horseback wearing these royal ornaments. 
The chief consented to mount behind Ojeda, dressed in 
manacles. He no doubt felt that he cut a fine figure 
in the eyes of his wondering subjects, decked with shin- 
ing ornaments and daring 
to ride one of the dread- 
ed horses. Ojeda and 
his men dashed around 
among the Indians, mak- 
ing wider and wider cir- 
cles, until they got out of 
sight in the forest. The 
soldiers then drew up 
around Caonabo, bran- 
dishing their swords and 
telling the chief that they 
would kill him if he made 
a sound or tried to get 
away. They hastily tied him with cords to Ojeda, and 
they all rode aw^ay for Isabella, leaving the Indians far 
behind. They had a long and dangerous journey be- 
fore them. They thought best to avoid Indian villages 
or gallop through them at full speed, and they suffered 
greatly from hunger and w^atchfulness. 

Fancy the surprise in Isabella when the brave little 
Captain Ojeda entered the town with the dreadful Ca- 
onaba tied behind him. The chief bore his misfortunes 
stolidly, in Indian fashion. For want of a better place, 
Columbus kept him a prisoner in his own house, which 




CANNON OF COLUMBUS'S TIME. 



OJEDA'S ADVENTURE. 171 

was small. The captive chief, in chains, could be seen 
bj passers-by through the open door. When Colum- 
bus, who kept up a good deal of dignity as viceroy, en- 
tered the house, all who were there rose in his presence. 
The Indian chief, however, declined to rise, but he al- 
ways got up when the small Captain Ojeda entered. 
The Spaniards asked Caonabo the reason of this. Co- 
lumbus, they told him, was guamigidna^ or chief over 
all, and Ojeda was only one of his men. Caonabo an- 
swered that Columbus had not dared to come to his 
house and make him a prisoner, while Ojeda had. 

By capturing Caonabo Columbus did not get rid of 
Indian wars. One of this chief's brothers presently 
marched forth to attack Ojeda, who was at St. Thomas 
again. The little captain, however, rode out to meet 
the Indians, and soon put them to flight, killing many 
of them and capturing the chief's brother. 

As was always the case with later colonies in the 
Kew World, the men were generally half starved, 
though living in a plentiful land. The supplies fur- 
nished by the Indians were uncertain, as they were a 
very indolent people and did not feel obliged to raise 
more food than was necessary for their own immediate 
wants. The colonists, so long as they had to work for 
the colony in general, never succeeded in planting 
enough to support themselves. The famine in the 
colony of Columbus was only ended by the arrival of 
four ships from Spain loaded with provisions. The 
admiral sent back by these ships five hundred Indians 
to be sold as slaves in Spain. This was a cruel meas- 
ure, into which Columbus was probably pushed by the 
demand upon him to make the colony immediately 
13 



172 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



profitable, while it was argued that the poor natives 
were thus put where they might stand a chance of being 
converted to Christianity. The wars with the Indians 
had perhaps also excited a hatred of the race. Colum- 
bus sent over what gold had been gathered, but this 
was probably not a very large amount, considering that 
the settlers had spent more time in squabbling and idle- 
ness than in gold-digging. The Indians were sold in 
Seville, but they died speedily in their new and hard 
life. 

During all this time Columbus was ill. It was not 
until five months after he had first been taken sick on 
shipboard that he recovered his usual health. Indian 

war was constantly 
threatening the set- 
tlement, and by April, 
1495, it broke out. 
All of the chiefs, ex- 
cepting Guacanagari, 
banded together to at- 
tack the white men, 
another brother of Ca- 
onabo taking his place as chief of the tribe. They were 
on the warpath now, making their way toward Isabella. 
Columbus made haste to muster his army. It was 
very small — only two hundred footmen and twenty 
horsemen — but there were also twenty bloodhounds. 
The white men wore steel armor, and carried cross-bows, 
swords, lances, and the awkward gun called the arque- 
buse. Guacanagari and his warriors followed the Span- 
ish force, but they were of no use to the white men. 
The little army marched up over the Pass of the Ilidal- 




STONE-CARVING 



M 8ANT0 DOMINGO. 



OJEDA'S ADVENTURE. 



173 







goes and down into the beautiful Yega Eeal. Tlie In- 
dians sent scouts ahead to see how many there were of 
the white men. The savages were not able to count 
above ten, so they carried ears 
of corn wdth them and shelled 
off a grain for every man they 
saw in the army of Columbus. 
As they brought back a very 
small amount of corn to re}3re- 
sent the Spanish army, the In- 
dian chiefs felt sure of success. 

Columbus divided his army uf^^r^, <. o <« -w>?i i,- 
into several parts, each of which iZw^i^^W^^^ 
attacked the Indians from dif- 
ferent points. The sound of 
drums, trumpets, and fire-arms 
drowned the war-whoops of the 
natives. The horses trampled 
them under foot, their riders 
dealt blows to right and left 

with their swords, the bloodhounds chased down their 
prey and tore the helpless creatures to pieces, while 
the arquebuse did its share in the deadly w^ork. The 
warriors fled in every direction, or begged for mercy 
from the tops of rocks and precipices. Many were 
killed, and many more were taken prisoners. 

After the battle Columbus made a tour through the 
known part of the island and reduced it to subjection. 
The Indians were forced to pay tribute. Each savage 
over the age of fourteen was made to pay a hawkbell 
full of gold-dust. In the places where there was no 
gold, cotton was taken in its stead. A much larger 




COLUMBUS'S AKMOR. 



1Y4 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

tribute was exacted of the chiefs. The brother of Ca- 
onabo had to give half a calabash of gold. When the 
Indians had paid their tribute they were given medals 
of lead or leather to wear around their necks, and any 
Indian found without his medal was punished. This 
tribute was a terrible burden to the Indians, to whom 
work made life unendurable. It bore also very hard 
upon the chiefs, who were leaders among the Indians 
rather than kings, as the Spaniards thought, and could 
not, it is probable, exact much tribute from their so- 
called subjects, and so were little richer than other In- 
dians. It was found to be so hard for the natives to 
furnish so much gold that the tribute was reduced to 
half a hawkbell of gold-dust, a hawkbell full being 
worth about five dollars. Meantime, there was such 
complete peace that a white man might go from one 
end to the other of the island unarmed and meet with 
no harm. 



TROUBLE FOR COLUMBUS. 175 



CHAPTER XXX. 

TKOUBLE FOR COLUMBUS, AND A NEW GOLD MINE. 

Ijf95-U96. 

Columbus had no sooner settled the affairs of the 
island than his enemies in Spain made him fresh trouble, 
and they could not be dealt with so easily as the simple 
Indians. The two runaways, Margarite and Father 
Boil, had made as bad a story as possible of the troubles 
of the colony, blaming Columbus for everything. As 
it was very hard for the king and queen to know the 
real state of the case at so great a distance, they sent a 
man named Juan Aguado out to the colony to inquire 
into the state of affairs there. This Aguado had been 
one of the officers of Columbus on his second voyage 
out. In his letters to court, Columbus had recommended 
him and Margarite to the royal favor. Now, however, 
we find that they were both his enemies. 

When Aguado landed at Isabella Columbus was in 
the interior of the island. Aguado took no notice of 
Bartholomew Columbus, who was governing in his 
brother's absence. He caused the letter of credence 
given to him by the king and queen to be proclaimed 
by sound of trumpet It read : 

"Knights, esquires, and other persons who by our 
orders are in the Indies, we send to you Juan Aguado, 
our groom of the chambers, who will speak to you on 



1Y6 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

our part. We recommend yon to give liim faith and 
credit." 

Of course, everybody who was discontented com- 
plained to Aguado, and there w^ere many such people, 
while Aguado made the most of his little time of au- 
thority. Meantime, Columbus hastened to Isabella. 
People expected that there would be some sort of an 
explosion when Aguado and the proud discoverer met. 
But there was nothing of the sort. Columbus received 
Aguado courteously, caused the letter of credence to be 
proclaimed again by trumpet, and said that he was ready 
to obey the sovereigns in everything. 

After Aguado had meddled in the government of 
the island and had spent some time hearing the com- 
plaints of discontented white men and Indians, this gen- 
tleman got ready to leave. Columbus also thought best 
to go back to Spain and try to undo what his enemies 
had been doing against him at court. When the ships 
were all ready to set sail one of those terrible hurri- 
canes which occur sometimes in tropical countries 
struck Hispaniola. A wdnd from the east and a wind 
from the west seemed to meet and engage in a terrific 
war to the sound of thunder. The whirlwind tore over 
the country, pulling up great trees by the roots, and 
loosening rocks in the mountains, which crashed into 
the valleys below. The lighter houses were blown 
away, and people fled for safety. The ships in the har- 
bor were whirled about, their cables broken, and they 
were either sunk or wrecked on the shore, while the 
men on board of them were drowned. After three 
hours the storm was over. The Indians called this 
kind of storm furicanes or uricanes, and that is how 



TROUBLE FOR COLUMBUS. 



177 



they have come to have the name of hurricane. The 
four ships which Aguado had brought over were 
wrecked, as well as two others that were in the harbor. 
There was only the Nina left, and she was badly dam- 
aged. Columbus and Aguado did not care to sail to 
Spain in the same vessel, so that there was nothing to 
do but to wait until another could be built out of the 
timbers of the wrecked ships. 

While the vessel was being built something interest- 
ing happened. There was a young Spaniard named 
Miguel Diaz, who had had a fight with another man 
and wounded him so badly that it was thought that he 
would die. Afraid of being punished as a murderer, 

<o 
3 
o 

'^^^^^ '^ TRontt 




TRap oj- lHi.span\ola 



young Diaz ran away with several other men who had 
been in the fight with him. They wandered about the 
island until they came to an Indian village in the south- 
ern part of Hispaniola, which stood where the city of 



1Y8 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

Santo Domingo now is. The Indians were friendly, 
and the white men lived among them. There was a 
female chief in this village — one Catalina. Young Diaz 
became her husband after the Indian fashion, and they 
lived together for some time. 

After a while Diaz began to be weary of the society 
of Indians. The Indian queen soon discovered what 
made him sad. Afraid of losing her husband, Catalina 
thought of a plan which would bring the Spaniards to 
live in her town, so that Diaz would not lack for com- 
pany. She accordingly told him that there was a fine 
gold mine near by, and that this would be a much bet- 
ter place for the Spaniards to build a town than Isa- 
bella, w^hich Avas unhealthy. The young man found what 
Catalina had told him to be true ; so, taking the Indian 
guides, he set off for Isabella, hoping that the news of 
a gold mine would buy him forgiveness for- his crime. 
He went into Isabella secretly at first, but found that 
the man whom he supposed he had killed had got, well 
again. He was not afraid now to go boldly to Colum- 
bus with his piece of news. Columbus wanted to move 
his settlement to a healthier spot, and would also like 
to have some good news to take to Spain, so he sent his 
brother Bartholomew with a party back with Miguel 
Diaz to see if his tale were true. Bartholomew Colum- 
bus crossed the island, and found a richer gold field 
than had yet been discovered. In some places he saw 
pits dug, as though the Indians had in some former 
time had the industry to mine a little. 

The admiral was much pleased when Bartholomew 
brought back such good news. He ordered a fort to 
be built at these mines, so that they might be worked. 



rv^ 




TROUBLE FOR COLUMBUS. 1^9 

Miguel Diaz now became quite an important person. 
Catalina got her reward, for Diaz did not desert the 
wife who had brought him such a good dowry. 

The very lively imagination of Columbus sometimes 
carried him far, and made him think of many things 
not so reasonable as his notion of finding land by sailing 
to the west. He still thought himself to be in the far 
East, and he now fancied that the gold diggings just 
discovered were the ancient mines of Ophir, from which 
Solomon got his gold for building the temple at Jerusa- 
lem. Many people in a later period have had similar 
fancies, and Ophir has been placed successively in Cali- 
fornia and Australia by fanciful writers. 



180 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTEK XXXL 

IN SPAIN. 
lJf96. 

Columbus sailed for Spain in March, 1496, with 
some two hundred and twentj-five sickly or discon- 
tented men, wdio wished to return home, and thirty In- 
dians, among whom were Caonabo, one of his brothers, 
and a nephew. The admiral promised this chief that 
he would take him to Spain and then return him to his 
home. It was not known then that by steering 
somewhat north the trade winds could be avoided, so 
Columbus, who steered directly east, had a very tedious 
voyage. The clumsy ships of that time could make 
little head against the wind, and the two little vessels 
beat about for nearly a month without getting out of the 
West Indies. Columbus anchored at length at the island 
of Giiadaloupe to make cassava bread, for he was afraid 
that his provisions would not hold out for the voyage. 

When the Spaniards tried to land, fierce Indian 
w^omen opposed them, armed with bows and arrows. 
Columbus thought that this must be the island in Asia 
which Marco Polo had told about where Amazons 
lived. Some of the Spaniards busied themselves mak- 
ing bread, while others made a trip inland and returned 
with some captive women and children. One of these 
women was a chief's wife. She had nearly strangled 



IN SPAIN. 181 

the man wlio had tried to catch her, and he was only 
saved by the other white men coming up in time. 
These women were naked and wore their hair lono^. 
They tied cotton bands very tightly around their legs 
and ankles to make the calves of their legs look plump, 
as large calves were thought a trait of beauty with them. 
As Columbus considered that Guadaloupe was the gate, 
so to speak, to many other islands, it seemed best to 
him to send back the Indian women, in order that the 
people might not fear the white men, so they were all 
sent ashore, except the ferocious chief's wife and her 
daughter, who chose to stay among the Hispaniola Indi- 
ans on shipboard. 

Having laid in a store of twenty days' bread, be- 
sides what he already had, Columbus set sail. The 
ships labored against contrary winds, and after a 
month's sailing had not yet neared the Old World. 
The provisions were almost gone. Each man was 
allowed but six ounces of bread a day and a little bot- 
tle of water. Time wore on, and starvation became 
imminent. Some were in favor of devouring the Indi- 
ans, after the example of the detested Caribs, while 
others were for throwing them overboard, so that 
they need no longer be fed out of the scanty stock. 
But Columbus would hear nothing of the sort. He 
and his pilots had some dispute as to where they were. 
Some thought that they were in the English Channel 
and others that they were off France, but Columbus 
thought that they Avere near the Azores. Land was 
presently seen which Columbus said was Cape St. Yin- 
cent near Lisbon. He ordered sail to be taken in for 
the night, at which the hungry men grumbled. They 



182 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

would rather be cast headlong on the coast of Europe 
than stay another night famishing on the water. The 
next day found them at the very land that Columbus 
had said. During the long voyage the chief Caonabo 
had died. He was the first of many native American 
chiefs who tried to make a confederacy to oppose the 
oncoming tide of European emigration. 

When the discontented colonists disembarked in 
Spain, lean with famine and sallow from the malarial 
fevers of the ]^ew World, it was said by people who 
saw them that all the gold they had brought back was 
in their faces. Columbus was beginning to be some- 
thing of a devotee under the troubles which had come 
upon him. Though he was First Admiral of the Indies, 
he went ashore unshaven and dressed in the gray robe 
and cord of a Franciscan monk. 

We know that Columbus had held extravagant ideas 
about the countries he went to discover. He had to 
swallow his disappointments and make the most of 
naked barbarians, spices whose existence was only sus- 
pected, and gold which was yet undug. But the people 
in Spain who had not seen, as the great admiral had, 
the wonderful beauty of these troj)ical islands, began to 
imagine his discoveries of small account. The tales of 
the runaway captain and priest and of the disappointed 
colonists who had returned sallow and thin made them 
think that the Indies must be a poor world after all. 

Though Ferdinand and Isabella may have had 
doubts as to whether Columbus was a good governor 
from the tales they had heard, they still did not forget 
that he was really a great man and had done them a 
great service. As soon as they knew that he was in 



IN SPAIN. 183 

Spain they sent him a kind letter, asking him to come 
to court. Columbus accordingly traveled toward the 
city, where he was to meet the king and queen. He 
knew that people had begun to say that there were no 
riches in the West Indies, so he made a display, as he 
journeyed, of head-ornaments, armlets, anklets, and col- 
lars of gold, as well as Indian masks and queer images 
of wood and cotton. The Indians that he brought 
with him were decorated with gold trinkets and dressed 
after their savage fashion. When Columbus passed 
through a large town he put a heavy gold chain and 
collar on the neck of the brother of Caonabo, who fio^- 
ured as king of the golden province of Cibao. 

Columbus was very well received at court. He 
showed the curiosities he had brought with him, gave 
an account of his trip along the extreme coast of Asia, 
which was really Cuba, and asked for eight ships with 
which to make further discoveries in the IN'ew World. 
The ships w^ere promised, but it was a long wdiile be- 
fore the money for such an undertaking could be pro- 
cured, for Ferdinand was an ambitious king and had 
many enterprises in Europe which he thought more 
important than the exploration of far-away lands. One 
of the kino-'s cares at this time was the send in 2: of a 
great Spanish fleet to Flanders to bring back the Prin- 
cess Margarita, who was to be married to Prince Juan, 
the Spanish heir. The sons of Columbus, Diego and 
Ferdinand, who had now both become pages to Prince 
Juan, were present at this ceremony when it took place. 

During this time of waiting and neglect for Colum- 
bus others were allowed to go out on voyages of dis- 
covery. This was a much cheaper way for the rulers 



184 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

of Spain to push forward discovery, and they began to 
disregard their agreements with Cohimbus. " Now," 
said Cohimbus bitterly, '' there is not a man dow^n to 
the very tailors who does not beg to be allowed to be- 
come a discoverer." 

Provisions were sent out to the colonies, but Colum- 
bus waited long for his ships. Meantime Isabella re- 
mained kind to him. She granted him again all the 
rights that he had asked for when he went on his first 
voyage, and also made them hereditary, for Columbus 
wanted to found a great family. The crown prince did 
not live very long after his marriage. Though the 
queen w^as almost heartbroken at the loss of her only 
son, she remembered the two sons of Columbus who 
had been in the service of the dead prince, and made 
them pages to herself. 

After two years of waiting, a squadron of six ships 
was granted to Columbus. It was now so hard to get 
people to go to the New World, on acount of the bad 
reports that had been made about it, that criminals were 
permitted to go from the prisons instead of taking 
their punishment at home. This was a bad method of 
settling a new land, for where such people went there 
was sure to be trouble. 

Just as Columbus was about to set sail on this new 
voyage, the fiery temper which is supposed to go with 
auburn hair like his got the better of him, and in a dis- 
pute with a man named Ximeno, he knocked him 
down. Columbus afterward regretted bitterly this fit 
of anger, and it is said to have done him more harm 
with the king and queen than all the complaints from 
Hispaniola. 



COLUMBUS SAILS ON HIS THIRD VOYAGE. 185 



CHAPTEK XXXII. 

COLUMBUS SETS SAIL ON HIS THIRD VOYAGE. 
U98. 

It was the 30th of May, 1498, that Cohimbns set 
sail on his third voyage to America. He took a course 
much farther south than he had done before. One 
reason of this was that he wished to avoid a French 
squadron, which might make him trouble. Another 
reason was that he had an idea that the main-land of 
Asia lay farther to the south than he had sailed before. 
He had also still another notion in steering southward. 
A lapidary, or a man skilled in the knowledge of pre- 
cious metals and stones, had told him that the most 
precious articles came from the hottest regions of the 
earth. He was of the opinion that if Columbus would 
get nearer the equator, and find blacker races of men, 
he would also discover more valuable articles. 

At the Canary Islands the admiral divided his fleet, 
and sent three ships directly to Hispaniola, so that the 
colonists need not want for food. He sailed himself 
first to the Cape de Yerde Islands, which were barren, 
and looked very different from the beautiful tropical 
islands of America. From the Cape de Yerde Islands 
he steered southwest until he was near the equinoctial 
line. He now found himself becalmed in a region of 
terrible heat. The seams in the ships gaped, the tar 
14 



186 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

melted, the salt meat began to spoil, and the hoops 
shrank from the barrels of wine and water. The holds 
of the ships were so hot that the men could not stay 
down there long enough to attend to the meat and the 
leaky barrels. For eight days the heat lasted. Colum- 
bus said that he thought the men would have died had 
the sun shone, but it was cloudy and rained most of the 
time. He gave up steering any farther south, and when 
the east wind sprang up he sailed to the west. AVith 
the east wind the weather became more endurable. 

The ships sailed directly west for seventeen days. 
The heat was getting very severe once more, and the 
supply of water was almost exhausted. Columbus there- 
fore changed his course to the northwest, hoping to 
strike the Caribbee Islands. On the 31st of July there 
was but one barrel of water left, when a sailor, who 
climbed to the maintopmast, saw the peaks of three 
mountains rising above the horizon. The men sang 
their hymn of thanksgiving, and Columbus named the 
land Trinidad, or Trinity, on account of its three peaks. 
He steered for a cape which had a rock lying off it, that 
looked like a galley under sail. Columbus named it 
Cape Galea, or Galley, and it is now called Cape Gale- 
ota. The island was very beautiful, and as " fresh and 
green as the gardens of Valencia in March," said Co- 
lumbus. He had to sail some distance along the south- 
ern coast of Trinidad before he could find good bottom 
to anchor in. He only stopped long enough to take in 
a barrel of water, and then sailed to a sandy point at 
the western end of Trinidad, where he anchored once 
more. 

He now ordered the casks to be repaired, wood and 



COLUMBUS SAILS ON HIS THIRD VOYAGE. ISY 

water to be taken in, and gave the people a chance to 
rest from their voyage. They found many tracks on 
the shore which they thought were made by goats, but 
probably they were the tracks of deer. The day after 
the ships had anchored a large canoe put in an ap- 
pearance, with twenty-four Indians in it. They were 
young men with graceful figures, and lighter com- 
plexions than any Columbus had seen before. They 
wore cotton scarfs, woven out of various colors, bound 
around their heads, or about their hips in place of 
breeches. They were armed with bows, arrows, and 
shields made of wood. They called to the white men 
from their canoe, but they kept at a safe distance, and 
if they thought that they were drifting dangerously 
near they paddled off again. Columbus caused basins 
of polished metal and looking-glasses to be held up so 
that they might see them, hoping that these shining 
articles would tempt them to come on board. After a 
long while they moved a little nearer, but they were 
very wary. The admiral wished very much to speak to 
these Indians, so he ordered a drum to be played on the 
quarter-deck, and told some of the young men on board 
to dance, thinking that the Indians would come up to 
see the fun. The latter, however, so soon as the danc- 
ing began dropped their paddles, strung their bows, and 
let fiy at the dancers. The music and dancing ceased 
very suddenly, and Columbus ordered that the compli- 
ment should be returned by cross-bow men. When 
the Spanish arrows began to fly the Indians took refuge 
under the poop of one of the smaller ships. The cap- 
tain of this ship talked with the Indians as well as he 
could. He gave their chief a coat and hat, and agreed 



188 



THE STORY OP COLUMBUS. 



to meet them on the shore. While he went to the 
admiral's ship to get permission to do this the Indians 
went away. 

Columbus found that there was a strait between 
Trinidad and another land which lay west of it, and 
which he called Gracia. He did not know that Gracia 
was the mainland for which he had looked so long. 
The currents rushed through this strait with such fury 
that it was like row after row of breakers, and Colum- 
bus feared that the ships would be carried upon hidden 
rocks if they attempted this channel. 

The admiral was suffering from gout, and his eyes 
were inflamed, but he dared not sleep when he was on 
unknown coasts. In the middle 
of tlie night, while he was on 
deck, he heard a dread- 
ful roaring sound, which 
came from the south 
"^N^ and grew nearer and 

^ ^ V ^ nearer. Presently he 

saw that a great 
wave, as high as 
a ship, was coming 
toward him, mak- 
ing a frightful 
noise as it came. 
The discoverer was 
seized with terror 
lest his vessels should founder when the 
wave struck them. But the ships rose to the giant 
swell and it passed on, roaring for a long time in the 
strait between Trinidad and the mainland of South 




Ri'to 




Soutlj 
Jimerica 



COLUMBUS SAILS ON HIS THIRD VOYAGE. 189 

America. This strait seemed so terrible to Colmnbus 
that he named it tlie Moutli of the Serpent. The im- 
mense wave which he had seen was produced by the 
waters of the great river Orinoco flowing into the sea 
and throngli the strait into the Gulf of Paria. 

The next day the admiral caused the Mouth of the 
Serpent to be sounded, and found that the waters were 
sufficiently deep, though there were contrary currents. 
He sailed through tlie strait safely, and came to still 
water on the other side. Columbus was now in the 
great Gulf of Paria, but he still thought he was in the 
open sea and that he had passed between two islands. 
The men were surj^rised when they drew up some of the 
w^ater to find it quite fresh. This freshness was caused 
by the inflowing waters of the Orinoco, which, besides 
running out at its principal mouth, also sends streams 
through a delta into the Gulf of Paria. 




A TRINIDAD PALM. 



190 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

COLUMBUS DISCOVEKS PEARLS. 

Columbus now sailed nortliward until lie came to 
two high headlands. The one on the east was part of 
the island of Trinidad, while that on the west was the 
end of a long peninsula which belonged to the main- 
land of South America, though Columbus did not yet 
know this. Between these headlands was another nar- 
row strait where the water roared in a fearful manner. 
The admiral thought this still more terrible than the 
Mouth of the Serpent, so he called it the Mouth of the 
Dragon. He turned and sailed along the coast of 
Paria westward, thinking that Paria was an island and 
that he could iind some other way into the sea than 
through the dreadful Dragon's Mouth. As he sailed he 
found that the water grew more and more fresh. He 
presently saw a spot where he thought that the land 
looked as though it were cultivated. Columbus wanted 
very nmch to talk with some of the natives, so he sent 
the boats ashore. There were signs of men here — fires, 
footprints, the leavings of cooked fish, and a house 
without a roof — but no people were seen. The shore 
was hilly and there were fruit trees and a great many 
monkeys. 

Columbus proceeded, hoping to find level land, where 



COLUMBUS DISCOVERS PEARLS. 191 

there would be more likely to be many people. He 
anchored at length in the month of a river. A canoe 
with several Indians in it paddled up to the nearest 
ship. The captain of this ship pretended that he 
wanted to go ashore with the Indians and jumped into 
the canoe, upsetting it. He and his men then caught 
the Indians in the water and took them to Columbus, 
who gave them beads, bells, and sugar— treasures which 
made them forget the way in w^hich they had been en- 
trapped. They were then sent ashore, and it was not 
long before the ships were surrounded with canoes, in 
which w^ere Indians quite willing to accept gifts of 
bells, beads, and sugar also. They told Columbus that 
their country was called Paria, and that farther west 
there were more people. So Columbus took four of 
these Indians with him and sailed on. He came to a 
beautiful coast, very thickly peopled. The Indians 
came out to the ships in great numbers. They wore 
cotton scarfs so beautifully colored that they looked 
like silk. These they wound about their heads and 
loins. These people had also plates and collars hung 
around their necks made of a mixed metal which con- 
tained some gold, and which they called gtianin. Some 
of them had strings of pearls about their arms, a de- 
lightful sight to Columbus. They told him that they 
got these pearls on the northern shore of Paria and 
showed him the shells of pearl oysters. 

Columbus wanted to get some of the pearls to show 
to Ferdinand and Isabella, so he sent the boats ashore. 
The Spanish sailors who went ashore in the boats were 
received very kindly by the natives. Two chiefs, whom 
the Spaniards took to be father and son, followed close- 



192 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

]y by a throng of Indians, advanced to meet the strang- 
ers. They took the white men to a very large house, 
built with sides and not round and tent-like as the isl- 
and houses were. This was probably a council house. 
The men stayed in one end of the building and the 
women in the other. The Indians brought bread, 
fruits, and a sort of wine for the strangers to feast on. 
There was nothing to do but to make signs of friend- 
ship, for the white men and Indians could not under- 
stand one another. The Spaniards were next taken to 
the house of the younger chief, where they were made 
to eat again. These Indians were tall and lithe, with 
long, smooth hair. Their lieads were bound with em- 
broidered handkerchiefs, and men and women tied long 
cotton scarfs about their middle. They all wore some 
kind of ornaments on their breasts and arms. Some 
wore pieces of the inferior gold hanging low on their 
bosoms ; others had strings of pearls on their arms. 
The Spaniards bought some of the pearls in exchange 
for hawksbells, which to an Indian had this advantage 
over pearls, that they would tinkle, as well as look 
bright. These Indians had handsome, light canoes, 
w^ith cabins in the middle of them. Columbus called 
this place " The Gardens " because it seemed so pleas- 
ant to him. 

The great discoverer was almost blind now from the 
malady that afflicted his eyes, so that he could scarcely 
see the lands which he found. Tlie provisions were 
spoiling, and it became necessary to make all haste for 
Hispaniola. He thought that Paria was an island and 
that he would soon reach the end of it by sailing to the 
west, and thus be able to pass out toward the north. 



COLUMBUS DISCOVERS PEARLS. 193 

He could see parts of the main-land, in the bottom of 
the gulf, and he thought that these were also islands. 
He sent one of his light caravels ahead of him to try 
to find the passage. The vessel presently returned with 
the report that there was only a large gulf witli four 
smaller gulfs opening into it. Columbus was disap- 
pointed that he could find no opening outward to the 
north, south, east, or west except the two roaring 
mouths. Finding that the water was so fresh in this 
great gulf, he concluded that there must be some large 
river running into the ocean here, and the reason that 
these two channels were so boisterous was that the 
great body of fresh water and the sea were having a 
struggle, the river water trying to run out while the 
ocean tried to run in. This was a right conclusion, and 
yet Columbus was at first not nearly so sure that he 
had found the main-land as he had been when he coast- 
ed Cuba. 

There was nothing to do but to try the dreadful 
Dragon's Mouth, wliicli Columbus did. While he was 
sailing througli the rough channel he tasted the water 
and found that on one side of the channel it was sweet, 
while on the other it was salt, showing that the ocean 
and the river water were running in and out. Colum- 
bus namerl the Gulf of Paria the Gulf of Pearls, be- 
cause he had found the Indians wearing pearls here, and 
he thought that the pearls had been found in this gulf. 
In those days people had a belief that the pearl oyster 
made pearls out of drops of dew which fell from trees 
into the water. As there were oysters here clinging to 
the roots of the trees which grew over the w^ater and 
heavy tropical dews, there must be pearls ; nothing 



194 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

seemed more simple. In fact, however, the Indians 
got all their pearls, as they said, on the northern side of 
Paria — not in the gulf, but in the ocean. 

After Columbus left the gulf he sailed to the west 
along the northern coast of Paria, to make sure wheth- 
er it was an island or not. He presently discovered 
the islands of Margarita and Cubagua, which after- 
ward became the seats of great pearl fisheries. When 
the ships were sailing near the small bare islands of 
Cubagua the admiral came upon a number of Indians 
who were pearl fishing. They fled when they saw the 
white men. A boat was sent after them, and the men 
noticed that one of the Indian women had a great 
many strings of pearls around her neck. The Span- 
iards broke up a plate of Valencia w^are, which was a 
kind of bright-colored porcelain, and exchanged these 
pieces of crockery for some of the woman's pearls. 
Columbus afterward sent some men ashore with smashed 
crockery and hawksbells, which they traded for pearls. 

The admiral sailed straight from the pearl fishery 
to liispaniola. He wished to strike this island near 
the new city of Santo Domingo, which had been found- 
ed in his absence. But the current which starts from 
the Mouth of the Dragon, and is now called the Gulf 
Stream, carried him to a point on the island about fifty 
leagues west of Santo Domingo. Columbus sent 
ashore to get an Indian messenger to carry a letter to 
his brother Bartholomew, to let him know that he was 
coming. Six Indians came out to the ships, and one of 
them carried a Spanish cross-bow. Columbus did not 
like the looks of this. He sent his message, however, 
and then sailed on for the settlement. His brother 



COLUMBUS DISCOVERS PEARLS. 195 

Bartholomew sailed out and met him before he got 
there. 

Columbus had some very fanciful theories about the 
discoveries he had made when lie found the land of 
Paria. He suggested that the earth was pear-shaped 
and imagined that somewhere in the interior of this 
land lay the Garden of Eden upon a great eminence 
which formed the top of the pear, from which flowed 
the quantities of sweet water he had found in the Gulf 
of Paria. Writers on Columbus have held him almost 
insane for this notion. They do not seem to have 
known that this theory was founded on the authority of 
Sir John Mandeville, the English traveler, who followed 
Marco Polo into the unknown parts of Asia. Sir John 
Mandeville in his book of travels describes the earthly 
paradise as placed on a part of the world so high that 
it almost touched the circle of the moon, inclosed with 
a wall covered with moss, in the center of which was a 
fountain that cast out four great rivers, up which no 
man could sail because the waters of the streams ran in 
such great waves and roared so that it was impossible 
to row or sail against them. The mind of Columbus 
was full of legends of the East, and it was not strange 
that the tumultuous passes and the great flow of fresh 
water into the Gulf of Paria suggested to his mind the 
roaring floods of Sir John Mandeville's paradise. 



196 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTEE XXXIY. 



WHAT HAPPENED IN THE COLONY WHILE COLUMBUS WAS 

AWAY. 

U96-U97. 

When Christopher Cohimbiis had sailed 
away to Spain in 1496 from Hispani- 
ola, Bartholomew Columbus crossed the 
island to build a fort at 
the place where 
the Indian wife 
of Miguel Diaz 
had shown her 
husband gold. 
He called this 
fort St. Cris- 
toval, but the 
workmen who 
built it dubbed 
it the Golden 
Tower, because 
they found 
grains of gold 
when they were 
digging for it. 
Don Bartholomew, as he was called, had trouble to fur- 
nish his men with food. The Indians were not provident 
people, and they could not be depended upon to will 




TOWER AND FUKl'KESS OF SANTO DOMINGO. 



WHAT HAPPENED IN THE COLONY. 197 

ingly provide much more food than they wanted them- 
selves. For this reason Bartholomew Columbus had 
soon to leave his fort with only ten men to guard it 
and a dog to hunt utias or little rabbits for them, so 
that they need not starve. He marched away with his 
other men to the Yega Eeal, where he collected the 
tribute, which was much of it paid in food. 'No doubt 
the Indians thought it very hard that these greedy 
armed men should sit down among them and make 
them pay tribute, a thing before unknown to them in 
their simple way of living. 

There came shijDs from Spain in July, 1496, with 
provisions and a letter to Don Bartholomew from his 
brother Christopher, telling him to send to Spain as 
slaves all Indians w^ho had had anything to do with the 
killing of white men, and to found a town at the mouth 
of the Ozema Biver, which was near the gold mines 
that Miguel Diaz had discovered. Accordingly, three 
hundred Indians were shipped off to Spain to be sold 
for slaves, and Bartholomew journeyed across the island 
again to build a town near the new fort of St. Cristoval, 
so that ships could land there. This new town, Santo 
Domingo, afterward became the capital of Hispaniola, 
and finally gave its name to the island. It was in a 
beautiful spot, and it was near here that Miguel Diaz 
lived with his Indian wife, who received the white men 
as kindly as she had promised to do. 

After Don Bartholomew had built a fort, which 
was to be the beginning of the new city, he w^ent to 
make a visit to a chief called Behechio, who had not yet 
made the acquaintance of white men. The country of 
this chief was called Xaragua, and was the whole west 



198 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



end of the island. He had a sister named Anacaona, 
which is said to mean flower of gold. She had been 
the wife of Caonabo, but had returned to her country 
when this chief had been made a prisoner. She is said 
to have been a handsome Indian. Don Bartholomew 
marched through the native towns in the most showy 




THE GUANA. 



style to the music of drum and trumpet, with the cav- 
alry in advance and banners flying. 

Behechio met the little Spanish army with a large 
force of armed warriors. The Indians, however, laid 
down their bows and arrows, and merely asked what 
the Spaniards had come after. Don Bartholomew an- 
swered that he had only come for a visit So the chief. 



WHAT HAPPENED IN THE COLONY. 199 

who had been suspicions at first, dismissed his warriors, 
and sent messengers ahead to his town to order a feast 
for his guests. When the white men neared the town 
of Behechio, thirty Indian women came dancing out to 
meet them, waving pahn branches. The married wom- 
en wore aprons of embroidered cotton, but the young 
women were entirely naked, with only a cotton fillet 
around their heads. After these women came Anaca- 
ona, who was carried on a sort of litter by six Indians. 
She wore only an apron, but she had wreaths of red 
and white flowers about her head, neck, and arms. 

The Spanish officers were feasted at the cabin of 
Behechio. The meal consisted of utias, river and sea 
fish, roots, fruits, and the guana. As this last was a 
large lizard, the Spaniards could never be persuaded to 
eat it, calling it a serpent. Anacaona now pressed Don 
Bartholomew to taste the loathsome dish. He did so 
out of politeness, and the old story says he found the 
flesh so delicate to his tongue that he fell to without 
fear, seeing which his men were not behind him in 
greediness. The Spaniards were lodged at night in the 
cabins of the Indians and slept in their cotton ham- 
mocks. The natives entertained their visitors for two 
days with games. One of these represented a battle. 
The Indians were so earnest in their entertainment that 
four men are said to have been killed in the sport, at 
which the Spaniards begged the natives to leave oif. 

Don Bartholomew presently came to business and 
told Behechio that he had come to his country to ar- 
range for a tribute to be paid to the Spanish sovereigns. 
Of course, there was nothing for the Indian chief to do 
but to make the best of it, since these white men with 



200 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



their terrible arms and horses were quartered in his 
midst. He was not pleased, however, for he knew that 
the Indians had suffered very much in other parts of 
the island by being forced to gather gold for the Span- 
iards. He told Bartholomew that he was aware that 
gold was what the white men most wanted, but that 
there was no gold in his country, and his people scarcely 
knew what it was. Don Bartholomew answered that 
he would take cotton and cassava bread instead of gold, 
at which the chief looked much relieved. 

Meantime at Isabella there was the old story of 
illness and idleness, of men who would not raise their 

own food and depend- 
ed for support on the 
supplies from Spain 
or upon the Indians. 
These Indians, who 
lived near Isabella, get- 
ting tired of feeding 
the white men and 
playing the slave gen- 
erally, had fled to the 
mountains. Of course 
there were all sorts of 
grumbling and discon- 
tent at Isabella. To 
give the men some- 
thing to do, Don Bar- 
tholomew began the 
building of two caravels at that place. He sent 
the sick men inland, where they would get better 
air and food. He also had a chain of forts or 



I 




FORTRESS AND SHORE OF SANTO DOAIINGO. 



WHAT HAPPENED IN THE COLONY. 



201 



strong houses built between Isabella and Santo Do- 
mingo. 

Two faithful priests had been living for some time 
among the Indians on the Yega Keal, trying to make 



TvT^ 







-«i/fcifijj)lifiilf'""jii|i!iir } . 




p^ 






CHURCH OF SAN ANTONIO, NEAR SANTO DOMINGO. 



Christians of them. The total number of converts was 
sixteen, all of one family. The priests spent a great 
deal of time trying also to convert the chief of the 
Yega, Guarionex, and they taught him and his w^hole 
family the Pater Foster, the Ave Maria, and the Creed, 
all of which this Indian family repeated daily, probably 
regarding them as some superior kind of incantations. 
The chief, however, suddenly relapsed from Christian- 
ity when some Spaniards carried off his favorite wife. 
The priests were discouraged, and got ready to move to 
some other Indian country, but before they went away 
15 



202 THE STORY OF COLCMBUS. 

tliey fixed up a small cliapel with an altar, crucifix, and 
images in it for their convert and his family of fifteen 
persons. 

Ko sooner were the priests gone than some Indians 
went into the chapel, broke the images, and buried them 
in a field near by. Complaint was made to Don Bar- 
tholomew, and he, very unwisely, took the aifair in 
hand. It was the days of the Spanish Inquisition, and 
pious people were great bigots. The crime of the 
image breakers was thought to be of the very worst sort, 
and so they were burned to death as a punishment. It 
ought to be said that Don Bartholomew also punished 
the man who had seduced the chief's wife. 

The Indians were very angry, and they planned to 
rise suddenly and massacre the white men. The hand- 
ful of men in one of the posts called Fort Concepcion 
heard of this plot. Don Bartholemew was at Santo 
Domingo, and they wished to send him word so that he 
might save them from being exterminated by the sav- 
ages. They did not dare send a letter openly by an In- 
dian messenger, for as he had no clothing in which to 
hide it, the letter would be fi^^<o^^ away from him, the 
Indians having learned by this time that among white 
men paper could talk. The men at Fort Concepcion 
rolled a letter np and put it into a hollow reed or cane, 
telling the messenger to use the reed for a staff. The 
Indian proved a cunning fellow. When he was stopped 
by hostile Indians he pretended to be dumb and lame. 
He made signs to show that he was going home, and 
limped along painfully, leaning on his stafi:'. When he 
got well out of sight, however, he left off limping and 
took to his legs in a very lively way. 



WHAT HAPPENED IN THE COLONY. 203 

As soon as he received the letter Don Bartholomew 
hurried to the rescue with a body of men. It was none 
too soon. The warriors had got together from a great 
distance, and were ready to strike the blow. Bartholo- 
mew Columbus seems to have been a very good Indian 
lighter. He divided his men into different parties, and 
fell on the native villages secretly at night, when the 
warriors were all asleep. The plan was to carry the 
chiefs off prisoners, and thus leave the Indians without 
leaders, Don Bartholomew undertaking to capture 
Guarionex himself. The Spaniards accomplished the 
feat, and took fourteen chiefs captive without blood- 
shed. The natives surrounded Fort Concepcion, where 
their leaders were im])risoned, and howled dismally. 
Bartholomew caused the two chiefs whom he thought 
most to blame to be put to death. He forgave Guarionex 
and the others, and released them. In truth, the white 
men did not think best to be too severe with the In- 
dians. They began to be afraid they would flee to the 
mountains, when there would be no tribute of gold, 
yams, potatoes, Indian corn, or cassava bread. 

Don Bartholomew now got word from Behechio 
that his tribute was ready, so he marched off to the 
country of Xaragua. The Spaniards were received in 
the same friendly way that they had been before. There 
was a cabin full of cotton waiting for the white men, 
and Behechio offered them all the cassava bread they 
wanted. Bartholomew Columbus was very glad to ac- 
cept this offer, as the Spaniards were in their usual state 
of want. He sent to Isabella for one of the new cara- 
vels that had been building to come around and carry 
away the bread and cotton. Meantime he waited in 



204 '^'HE STORY OP COLUMBUS. 

Xaragua, where lie was very well treated and feasted 
on Indian dainties. 

The vessel came, after a time. Anacaona wanted to 
go and see the " big canoe " of the white men. So she 
and her brother took a jonrnej to the coast with Don 
Bartholomew. On the way they spent the night at a 
house where Anacaona kept all her treasures. They 
w^ere things woven out of cotton, articles made of ebony 
and other kinds of woods, and utensils of clay, or of 
wood carefully carved. This Indian princess made 
presents out of her store to the white men. When the 
party reached the coast there were two painted canoes 
ready to carry Behechio and Anacaona to the . ship. 
But Anacaona preferred to go in the ship's boat 
with Don Bartholomew. As they were being rowed 
out to the ship a salute was fired from a cannon on 
board. Anacaona fell over into the arms of Don Bar- 
tholomew, and the other Indians were on the point of 
jumping overboard. But the Spaniards laughed, and 
persuaded them out of their fright. Music now struck 
up on l)oard the ship, and the fright of the Indians 
turned to delight. They wondered very much at every- 
thing they saw on shipboard. They were taken for a 
little sail, and watched the ship move by means of her 
sails with astonishment. 



A REBELLION AND A WAR. 205 



CHAPTEK XXXY. 

A REBELLION AND A WAR. 
^97-lJ^98. 

It was much easier for Bartholomew Cohimbus to 
manage the savages than to control the Spaniards. 
They were mostly worthless men who hated him for a 
foreign upstart, and it seems certain that Don Bartholo- 
mew governed with a good deal of severity. 

There was a man in the colony named Eoldan, who 
had been made by Columbus alcalde mayors or chief 
judge of Hispaniola — though he had come out as a 
servant. He became the leader of the many malcon- 
tents in the island. In the first place, he and his fol- 
lowers made a plot to kill Bartholomew at the execution 
of the Spaniard who had stolen the wife of Guarionex, 
this criminal having been a friend of Roldan's. As 
Bartholomew finally pardoned the fellow, the plot fell 
through. 

When the caravel which brought the bread and cot- 
ton from Xaragua had been unloaded Don Bartholo- 
mew had her drawn up on shore, perhaps because he 
feared the malcontents would run away with her. The 
rebels demanded that the ship should be launched, 
and Bartholomew Columbus refused to launch her. So 
Roldan and seventy men presently marched out of Isa- 
bella and wandered about the country, making trouble 



206 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



with tlie Indians. Don Bartholomew dared not come 
to an open light with them because of the discontent 
among his own men, who might at any moment desert 
him. Meanwhile the Indians at a distance took advan- 
tage of the troubles to leave off paying tribute, and 



% ^^. '^ 




WELL AT SANTO DOMINGO, WHERE SHIPS GET WATER, SAID TO HAVE BEEN 
BUILT BY BARTHOLOMEW COLUMBUS. 



Bartholomew Columbus thought best to excuse those 
who were near at hand, as he was afraid that they would 
join Eoldan if he did not. 

Ships arrived from Spain in February, 1498, with 
fresh soldiers and provisions. At this time Don Bar- 
tholomew was shut up in Fort Concepcion, with very 
little chance for getting food, and Roldan was about to 



A REBELLION AND A WAR. ^Q^ 

besiege him. The tables were turned when tlie ships 
arrived. Don Bartholomew took most of his troops 
over to Santo Domingo, Roldan and the rebels follow- 
ing. Bartholomew promised forgiveness to the rebels 
if they would return to duty, but perhaps Roldan did 
not believe that he would be forgiven. At any rate, 
he marched off with his men to Xarao:ua, which was 
thought to be a kind of paradise, since Bartholomew 
Columbus had been so well treated there. 

The rebellion of Roldan had encouraged the Indians 
to make fresh tronble. Guarionex laid a plot with a 
number of other chiefs to surprise Fort Concepcion 
while Don Bartholomew was away. There were Span- 
ish soldiers quartered around in the Indian villages, and 
it was agreed that while Guarionex took the fort the 
other chiefs were to fall upon these scattered parties 
and massacre them. As the Indians had no calendars, 
and were not good at counting, the night of the full 
moon was appointed for the attack. One chief, how- 
ever, made a mistake about the moon, and took up arms 
one night too soon. The soldiers whom he attacked 
beat him, and, of course, the plan was spoiled. Guari- 
onex put tliis chief to death for a blunder in astronomy. 

Don Bartholomew was soon marching down upon 
the Yega. Guarionex did not wait for him, but fled 
with his family to the mountains of Ciquay. The In- 
dians who lived in these mountains were a hardy tribe, 
and they had a chief named Mayobanex, who received 
the fugitive Guarionex. The mountain Indians now 
began to descend into the Yega, and massacre Spaniards 
or Indians friendly to the Spaniards. It would not do 
to let this sort of thing go on, so Don Bartholomew 



208 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

marched into the mountains, over a steep defile, and 
into a valley. There were, of course, Indian scouts on 
the watch to see where the white men were going. As 
the Spaniards were about to ford a river, they came 
upon two scouts in the bushes on its banks. One of 
them threw himself into the water and swam away. 
The other was caught, however, and forced to tell that 
there were thousands of Indians lying in ambush on the 
other shore. It was well for the white men that they 
were warned of this. The troops crossed where the 
water was shallow. When they were half way over 
the Indians sent showers of arrows and lances into their 
midst. In spite of their bucklers many Spaniards were 
wounded, but they pushed on and the enemy fled. On 
their way into the country they had to go more than 
once through Indian ambuscades. 

Don Bartholomew sent one of the Indians of the 
country whom he had captured to Mayobanex, promis- 
ing to make the chief no more trouble if he would give 
up Guarionex. 

" Tell the Spaniards," said Mayobanex, " that they 
are bad men, cruel and tyrannical, usurpers of the lands 
of others and shedders of innocent blood. I do not 
want the friendship of such men. Guarionex is a 
good man, he is my friend, he has fled to me for ref- 
uge, I have promised to protect him and I will keep 
my word." 

As it was impossible to find the Indians in order 
to fight them, Don Bartholomew began to burn their 
villages. The natives now begged their chief to give 
up Guarionex, but Mayobanex would not hear of this. 
He ordered men to lie in ambush and kill any messen- 



""^i^- 




4 



A REBELLION AND A WAR. 209 

gers that were sent to him with ofTers of peace from 
the white men. They presently killed two, one of 
whom was a member of their own tribe. When he 
saw his messengers shot through and through with 
arrows, Don Bartholomew was very angi-y. He marched 
to the home of the chief, only to iind that he and 
Guarionex had both Hed to tlie mountains. 

The Spaniards had a pretty hard time of it, scram- 
bling around among the mountains, living mostly on the 
little rabbits which their dogs hunted, and sleeping on 
the ground with the heavy tropical dew falling on 
them. Don Bartholomew finally dismissed most of his 
men who wished to attend to their farms in the Yega, and 
ranged the mountains with only thirty followers. He 
at length captured some Indians whom he forced to 
tell him wdiere their chief was. Twelve Spaniards 
agreed to go and capture him. They took oif their 
clothes and stained themselves to look like Indians. 
Wrapping their swords in palm leaves, they climbed to 
the hiding-place of Mayobanex. They surprised him 
and his family and took them captives to Fort Concep- 
cion. The Indians of Ciquay presently came with 
presents begging for the release of their chief. Don 
Bartholomew freed his family, but kept him a prisoner 
to make sure of the good behavior of his people. As 
for Guarionex, he was finally caught when he descend- 
ed into the Yega to look for food. Don Bartholomew 
was content to keep him a prisoner. 

Meantime the rebels in Xaragua were having a fine 
time. One day they saw three ships off the coast. 
They were at first somewhat frightened, thinking that 
some one had come to capture them. But Holdan be- 



210 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

gan to think that they might be ships which had been 
carried out of their course, and that the people in them 
were fresh from Spain and would not know anything 
about the rebellion, all of which was true enough, for 
they were the three ships that Columbus had sent from 
the Canaries. Roldan warned his men to keep quiet 
and went on board, telling the captains that he was sta- 
tioned here to keep the natives down. He had no 
trouble in getting a good supply of arms from them, 
while his men took the chance to gain over the men on 
board the ships, who were mostly convicts, and easily 
persuaded to be lawless. When the captains of the 
ships found out, after three days, that they were deal- 
ing with rebels, they tried to persuade Roldan out of 
his wrong course. As the winds were contrary, they 
resolved to send many of the men by land to Santo 
Domingo. The men were no sooner landed, however, 
than they nearly all deserted their captain and went 
over to the rebels. 

The ships made their way around to the settlement, 
leaving one of the sea-captains, named Caravajal, to 
treat with the rebels and try to persuade them to go 
back to duty. Caravajal did not succeed in doing any- 
thing with them, though he got Roldan to promise 
that he would go to Santo Domingo when Columbus 
arrived. Several rebels escorted Caravajal overland, and 
he got to Santo Domingo almost as soon as the ships did. 



COLUMBUS AND THE REBELS. 



211 



CHAPTEE XXXYI. 

COLUMBUS AND THE REBELS. 
H98-U99. 

Columbus was never to have any peace in his col- 
ony. Worn out by his troubles in Spain, where he had 
had to labor hard to save his o^ood name, and wearied 




CHAPEL CALLED COLUilBUSS CHAPKL, NEAK SANTO DOMINGO. 

by his long voyage and night watching on shipboard, 
he reached Hispaniola in August, 1498, to find the col- 
ony split into two parties, and to find, of course, that 
very little gold had been gathered amid all the troubles, 
while Spain clamored for the long-promised riches. 
The admiral on his arrival by way of Paria was 



212 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

not well pleased to hear tliat the rebels were likely 
soon to arrive in the neighborhood. As there were 
still many discontented men in the settlement, and as 
one of their chief complaints was that the Columbus 
brothers wished to keep men in the island for their 
own good, Columbus offered to all who wished to re- 
turn free passage in the ships which were about to sail 
for Spain. In this way he thought that he would get 
rid of some of the most worthless and troublesome men. 

Roldan and his followers presently arrived near 
Fort Concepcion, where one of the rebels owned a farm. 
They quartered themselves on this farm. Miguel Bal- 
lester, who was commander of the fort, went out to 
meet the rebels and offer them pardon, according to 
the orders of Columbus. Ballester was an old man, 
good, frank, and faithful. Eoldan used very high lan- 
guage to him, and said that he had not come to treat 
for peace, but to demand the release of some Indian 
prisoners who had been encouraged by him to engage 
in the last war, and who were now to be sent to Spain 
as slaves. 

Columbus was in a dilemma. He dared not under- 
take to fight the rebels, for he was uncertain of his own 
men. When he mustered the latter, only about seventy 
appeared, and of these many were not to be depended 
on. One was lame, another ill, some had friends 
among the rebels, and almost all had excuses. Colum- 
bus had kept the ships waiting in the harbor some 
time, hoping to send good news to Spain of the rebell- 
ion being over. The provisions were being used up, 
and the Indian prisoners, shut up in the holds of the 
vessels, were perishing from the heat. Columbus had 



COLUMBUS AND THE REBELS. 213 

to send an account of the rebellion and let the ships go. 
Roldan also sent his comjDlaints to Spain. 

The chief comj^laint of the rebels was against the 
severe government of Don Bartholomew. So Colum- 
bus wrote to them, begging them to submit to him, and 
promising full pardon. He sent this letter by Carava- 
jal, for the rebels would have no other messenger. 
There was a great deal of clamor among them when the 
letter arrived. Some of the leaders got on their horses 
to go to Columbus, but the others would not let them 
go. At last they sent word to Columbus, asking for a 
written passport. This was given, and Roldan came to 
Santo Domingo, where he asked more than Columbus 
thought he could grant. In truth, the rebels wished to 
make very sure that they would not be punished, and 
also demanded large rewards for coming back to their 
duty. Roldan went away and was presently besieging 
Fort Concepcion, having cut off the water supply, jyre- 
tending that he wanted an Indian who was in the fort. 
Columbus sent a proclamation, promising fall forgive- 
ness to any one who would return to duty in thirty days. 
When Caravajal posted the proclamation on the gate of 
the fort the rebels hooted at it. They thought better 
of besieging the fort, however, and agreed to come to 
terms if Columbus would give them each an Indian 
slave and send them back to Spain in the colony's two 
ships. Columbus had intended to send Bartholomew 
with these ships to the pearl coast to get more pearls, 
but he gave this up and promised to send the rebels 
to Spain. The latter marched off to Xaragua to wait 
for the ships. 

After a good deal of time was taken up in getting 



214 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

the vessels ready to sail, the rebels iinally changed their 
minds and refused to go. Caravajal turned away from 
them disgusted, and started to return to Santo Domingo. 
Roldan rode with him a little way, and told him that if 
Columbus would send him a written passport he would 
come and treat with him. The passport was sent, and 
Roldan came to Santo Domingo. Columbus finally 
agreed to his demands, giving him property enough to 
make him a rich man, and putting him back in his of- 
fice. Columbus had to bear a great deal from the 
recent rebels. To many of them he gave grants of 
lands and slaves from among the Indians captured in 
the wars, for in so short a time the Indians had come 
to this — their lands were not only divided among their 
conquerors, but they were themselves enslaved. 

Columbus would have liked now to return to Spain, 
for he was, as he said, "absent, envied, and a stranger." 
But there were fresh troubles threatening, and he dared 
not leave. The next thing was the arrival of Alonzo 
de Ojeda, whose daring had once been so useful in the 
island. He had gone back to Spain, and, as he was a 
relative of Bishop Fonseca, who had control of Indian 
affairs, he had been allowed to sail to the coast of South 
America on a voyage of his own, having first seen a 
map made on the third voyage of Columbus, which the 
admiral had sent home to the king and queen. Ojeda 
had heard of the finding of pearls at Paria by Colum- 
bus, and had gone in search of them. He was now on 
his return, and, as he knew that Columbus would not 
like it tliat sucli an expedition should be sent out with- 
out his knowledge, Ojeda did not go to Santo Domingo, 
but stopped at the western part of Hispaniola to lay in 



COLUMBUS AND THE REBELS. 215 

dje-woods and a cargo of slaves without asking per- 
mission. On these ships were two of the old pilots of 
Columbus and the famous Amerigo Vespucci, who af- 
terward wrote an account of his voyages, which hap- 
pened to get him the undeserved honor of having the 
E'ew World named after him. 

Columbus hit upon the very good plan of sending 
Roldan to deal with Ojeda. It was a case of setting a 
rogue to catch a rogue, and worked very well, for Roldan 
was afraid that when his proceedings were known in 
Spain he might get into trouble if he did not do some- 
thing to make his rebellion forgotten. He took two 
caravels and sailed along the coast to a place near that 
at which Ojeda had landed. He sent scouts ahead, and, 
finding that Ojeda was in an Indian village with a few 
of his men, who were making cassava bread, Roldan 
threw himself between Ojeda and his ships. Ojeda 
heard of this from the Indians, and, walking boldly up 
to Roldan, began to talk with him. Roldan asked him 
why he had landed on a lonely part of the island without 
reporting himself to the admiral. Ojeda answered that 
he had been on a voyage of discovery ; that he was in 
distress, and had put in for provisions. Roldan asked 
to see the license that he sailed under. Ojeda said that 
his papers were on board the ships, and that he would 
sail around to Santo Domingo and report to the ad- 
miral. Roldan went on board the ships, saw the papers, 
and then went back to Columbus, who waited for Ojeda 
to come and see him. 

Instead of this, Ojeda sailed around to Xaragua. 
Here he found some of Roldan's old followers, who 
made complaints to him of the Columbus brothers and 
16 



216 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

of Roldan, who, they said, had deserted them. So 
Ojeda set up as their champion. He made bold to do 
this, because he knew that Cohmibus was not in very 
good favor at court, and that the queen, who was al- 
ways the friend of Columbus, was ill. Ojeda prepared 
to march at the head of the rebels to Santo Domingo. 
Some were for going, some for staying, and there was 
a brawl in which several men were killed. The party 
for going gained the day, and the performances of 
Eoldan were likely to be enacted over again, when 
Eoldan himself appeared on the scene. Ojeda made 
haste to retire to the ships. Roldan then sent a letter 
to Ojeda, begging him in very good style not to go 
against law and order. He tried to get Ojeda to come 
ashore, but Ojeda would not. The two rogues dis- 
trusted one another. A one-armed sailor had deserted 
from the ships, and Ojeda seized two of Roldan's men 
in place of him. 

Ojeda made sail to the north, landed in a beautiful 
country, and seized the food of the natives. Roldan 
and Escobar, who was also an old rebel, followed along 
shore. Eoldan had thought of a very pretty little 
scheme. He sent Escobar in a canoe to within hailing 
distance of the ships to say that since Ojeda would not 
trust himself ashore, Eoldan would come on board if a 
boat were sent for him. The boat was sent and lay a 
little off shore, the men saying that Eoldan might come 
out to them, for they were afraid to land. 

" How many may accompany me ? " asked Eoldan. 

" Only five or six," answered the men in the boat. 

So Escobar and four other men waded out and got 
into the boat. Eoldan had to come yet, and, as he was 



COLUMBUS AND THE REBELS. 217 

a man of position, lie must have a man to carry him 
out to the boat, and another to walk beside and help. 
By this trick he got to the boat eight strong. He got 
in and ordered the boat's crew to row ashore. They re- 
fused. Roldan and his men then drew their swords 
and attacked them, wounding several, and taking them 
all prisoners except an Indian, who swam away. 

This was quite a blow to Ojeda, as he could not 
spare his boat, so he soon came to terms, returned the 
men he had captured, and agreed to leave the island if 
his men and boat were returned. He did not fail, how- 
ever, to land at another of the West Indies and make 
up what he called his drove of Indian slaves. 

It was not long before there was new trouble in the 
island. This time Columbus and Eoldan were pitted 
against a man named Moxica, who had been one of the 
old rebels, and had been given lands as a reward for 
good behavior. Moxica and others planned to murder 
both Roldan and Columbus, and would perhaps have 
succeeded had not one of the rebels deserted and re- 
vealed the plot. Columbus meant to nip this rebellion 
in the bud. With nine or ten men he went secretly in 
the night and captured the ringleaders. He resolved to 
hang Moxica on the top of Fort Concepcion. Moxica 
was allowed first to confess, but the fellow was a cow- 
ard, and when the priest came he tried to prolong his 
life by delaying his confession and accusing others. In 
a passion Columbus caused him to be thrown over the 
battlements. He afterward executed others of the lead- 
ers of this rebellion. 



218 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTEK XXXYII. 

THE KING AND QUEEN DISPLEASED. 
1500. 

In Spain there had been nothing but bad news from 
Hispaniola. Seven years had passed since Columbus 
had sailed to the New World, his over-hopeful imagi- 
nation leading him to promise riches so vast that he 
had thought by this time to have furnished from his 
own purse an army to rescue the sepulchre of Christ 
from the Mohammedans. But gold had only been eked 
out in small quantities, and the colony had been a great 
expense to the sovereigns. Most of the people who had 
returned from Hispaniola were those whose worthless- 
ness and unruliness in the colony had made it neces- 
sary to get rid of them. Of course, these had sad tales 
to tell about the new land and many complaints to make 
of the government of the Columbus brothers, though 
they easily forgot to mention their own sins. 

There were people at court who envied Columbus 
and who talked about his not being a Spaniard, which 
was a great crime in their eyes. The Spanish grandees 
were the proudest gentlemen in the world, and the fact 
that Columbus and his brothers were of humble birth 
made them hateful in their eyes. It was even suggested 
that this foreigner would some day make himself an in- 
dependent king of Hispaniola. 



THE KING AND QUEEN DISPLEASED. 219 

Beside the complaint sent by Roldan, there were 
the letters of Columbus himself, in which he had writ- 
ten about the rebellion of Roldan, and asked for some 
one to be sent out to settle the dispute between him and 
the rebels. It was natural that the king and queen 
should think that Columbus was not a very good gov- 
ernor. There is no doubt but that he was an unpopu- 
lar one, Ferdinand and Isabella decided to send some 
one out to inquire into the troubles of the colony, and 
remove Columbus from the government should it be 
necessary. But they waited a year before they did 
this. Meantime the queen, who had always been the 
particular friend of Columbus, was displeased with him 
because he kept sending Indian slaves to Spain. Many 
of the followers of Roldan had exacted when they sub- 
mitted that they should be returned to Spain and al- 
lowed to take some slaves with them. Some of these 
men had brought back native " princesses " or chiefs' 
daughters, whom they had coaxed away from their 
homes. Many of these Indian women had babies with 
them, who were the children of their masters. The 
queen was very angry at this scandal. 

" What right," said she, " has my viceroy to give 
away my subjects to such ends ? " 

When the king and queen rode out they were be- 
sieged by miserable wretches returned from the Xew 
World, who cried : 

" Pay ! Pay ! " demanding pay for their services. 

Once about fifty of these beggars seated themselves 
near the palace of the Alhambra, in Granada, and 
bought a load of grapes which they divided up and be- 
gan to eat. When the king and queen passed they 



220 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

held up bunches of grapes, and cried that they were re- 
duced to live on such food because Columbus had not 
paid them their due. Grapes, of course, were plentiful 
in southern Spain ; in other lands this might not have 
seemed very cheap living. 

When Diego and Ferdinand Columbus, who were 
pages to the queen, passed near these fellows, they 
would say to one another, quite loud enough to be heard : 
" There are the sons of the admiral of Mosquitoland, 
who has discovered the land of deceit and disappoint- 
ment, to make Spanish gentlemen die of misery there." 

Even a king and queen could not stand so much 
importunity. So a man named Francisco de Bobadilla 
was sent out to Hispaniola to investigate matters. If 
affairs were found in a bad state, he was authorized to 
take the government away from Columbus. The queen 
also sent some of the Indian slaves back to their homes. 



COLUMBUS IN CHAINS. 221 



CHAPTER XXXYIII. 

COLUMBUS IN CHAINS. 
1500. 

Eight years after his great discovery of the I^ew 
World came the darkest days in the life of Columbus. 
It must be admitted that he seems to have been a rather 
harsh ruler, and that his men had some cause for com- 
plaint on this score ; but, on the other hand, he had very 
difficult and lawless men to deal with. It is hard at tliis 
distance to tell whether a foreigner like Columbus 
could have done any better with a Spanish colony. 
When Bobadilla arrived in August of the year 1500, 
Columbus had just caused several of the rebels, whose 
leader he had thrown from the top of a fort, to be 
hanged. The first thing that Bobadilla saw when he 
went ashore was two men hanging from gibbets. He 
naturally concluded that Columbus was indeed cruel. 
Of course all who were discontented were quick to 
carry their complaints to him, and it did not take long 
for Bobadilla to decide that it was necessary for him 
to take the office of governor himself, especially as he 
was a needy man. He attacked the fortress, followed 
by a mob carrying scaling ladders. The rabble having 
broken down the door, the garrison of two men speed- 
ily surrendered. Bobadilla also took possession of the 
house of Columbus, with all the gold which belonged 



222 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



to the admiral as his share of the profits from the 
mines and all the books and papers of the great dis- 
coverer. To make himself popular he paid the salaries 











TOWER IN WHICH IT IS SAID COLUMBUS WAS IMPIUSOXED. 

overdue out of this gold and allowed the colonists vari- 
ous liberties, one of which was the privilege of looking 
for gold and paying only one eleventh to the crown in 
stead of one third, as before. 

When the news reached Columbus at Fort Concep- 
cion of what Bobadilla had done, he thought at first 
that it w^as the deed of some adventurer like Ojeda. 
When Bobadilla sent him word to surrender, he re- 
fused, saying that the government of the island had 
been granted to him for life, and that no one could take 
it away from him. But when a letter of credence was 
brought to him signed " I, the King " and " I, the 



COLUMBUS IN CHAINS. 



223 



Queen," commanding him to obey Bobadilla, lie set out 
at once for Santo Domingo almost alone. When he 
came quietly into the town, Bobadilla ordered him to 
be put in irons. The chains were brought, but no one 
wanted to rivet them on the legs of the great discoverer. 
At last one of his own servants, " a graceless and shame- 
less cook," consented to put the irons on his master. 
This fellow, " with unwashed front," as the old story 
says, fastened the irons on Columbus, " quite as though 
he were serving him with some choice dish." 

Diego Columbus was also put in irons and Bartholo- 
mew, who was in Xaragua, punishing some of the reb- 
els, was sent for. Columbus wrote to him to deliver 
himself up peaceably. The three brothers were im- 
prisoned, Christopher in the fortress and Diego and 
Bartholomew on board vessels in the harbor, so that 
they might not communicate with one another. For 







.9^^ 







INTERIOR OF THE FORTRESS IN AVIIICH IT IS SUPPOSED COLUMBUS WAS 
IMPRISONED. 

two months Columbus lay in prison in the tower of 
Santo Domingo, which still stands to-day. By this 
time Bobadilla had made out a great many charges 



224 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

against him, the end of which he thought would justify 
his own conduct. A gentleman named Alonzo de Vil- 
lejo was now commanded to take the Columbus broth- 
ers to Spain. 

During his two months of lonely imprisonment 
the great discoverer had fallen into despair. lie did 
not know what Bobadilla might not do next. When 
Yillejo came for him with a guard, he thought that 
perhaps his last moment had come. 

" Yillejo," he said, sadly, " whither are you taking 
me ? " 

" To tlie ship, your excellency, to embark." 

" To embark ! " exclaimed Columbus. " Yillejo, do 
you speak the truth ? " 

" By the life of your excellency, it is true," said 
Yillejo. 

Columbus was greatly comforted, and seemed like 
one restored from death to life. 

After they were out to sea the gentlemanly Yillejo 
and the captain of the ship wanted to take the disgrace- 
ful irons oft" of the great man. 

" ]N^o," answered Columbus, " their majesties com- 
manded me to submit to whatever Bobadilla should or- 
der in their name. I will wear these chains until they 
shall order them to be taken off, and I will keep them 
afterward as memorials of the reward of my services." 



COLUMBUS LANDS IN CHAINS. 225 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

COLUMBUS LANDS IN CHAINS. 

1500. 

When the discoverer landed at Cadiz in cliains 
there was a great reaction of sympathy for him and 
much indignation. So long as he was fancied to be the 
rich viceroy of the Indies, while his men came home 
gaunt and discontented, people were wont to pity the 
poor colonists and blame Columbus ; but when the 
tinder of a new world was seen loaded with chains, 
there was general disgust that a great man should be 
treated in this way. 

After he landed, Columbus wrote a letter to Donna 
Juana de la Torre, a lady who was a favorite of Queen 
Isabella, and had been nurse to Prince Juan. Colum- 
bus apparently dared not write directly to the king or 
queen, but he expected that this letter would be shown 
to them. It was a very sad letter. He said in it : "I 
have now reached a point that there is no man so vile 
but thinks it his right to insult me. The day will come 
when the world will reckon it a virtue to him who has 
not given his consent to their abuse." He told how 
wicked many of the colonists were. " If their high- 
nesses," he said, " would cause a general inquiry to be 
made throughout the land, I assure you that they would 
be astonished that the island has not been swallowed 



226 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

up." Columbus then alludes to the report that he had 
been accused of wishing to take the Indies away from 
Spain. " I do not imagine," he says, " that any one 
supposed me so stupid as not to be aware that even if 
the Indies had belonged to me I could not support my- 
self without the assistance of some prince. In such 
case, where should I find a better support or more secur- 
ity against expulsion than in the king and queen, our 
sovereigns ? " He also told how Bobadilla had seized 
the gold, among which were some rich pieces of ore as 
big as a goose's egg and some pearls which he had been 
saving to take to the king and queen ; how he had taken 
it without weighing it, had used some of it to pay the 
men whose wages were overdue, and had kept the rest 
to " feather his own nest " with. 

" I have been wounded extremely," said Columbus, 
" that a man should have been sent out to make inquiry 
into my conduct who knew that if he sent home an 
aggravated account of the result of his investigation he 
would remain at the head of the government." The 
rest of the letter is devoted to proving that gold was 
now being found in abundance in the island, for Colum- 
bus, after he had made his discoveries, was ever put to 
trouble to prove their value in European eyes. He said 
that the road was now " open to gold and pearls, and it 
may surely be hoped that precious stones, spices, and a 
thousand other things will also be found." We know 
that Columbus had indeed opened the road for a great 
deal of riches for Spain, though he was to be in his 
grave before they began to flow in very great quanti- 
ties ; and we also know that the road was open for 
many other benefits to the Old World, though they 



COLUMBUS LANDS IN CHALNS. 22 7 

would not be precisely the spices and other things for 
which it looked. 

When the queen heard how Columbus had been sent 
home in chains, she was greatly shocked. The king and 
queen immediately sent orders to Cadiz that the Colum- 
bus brothers should be set free and treated with distinc- 
tion. They also sent Christopher Columbus a letter in 
which they told him how grieved they were at the way 
in which he had been treated, and asked him to come 
to court. 

Columbus went to court. When the queen saw 
him, her kind eyes filled with tears. This was too 
much for Columbus. He threw himself on his knees 
at her feet, weeping and sobbing. He had a long talk 
with the sovereigns, and they made him fair promises, 
so that he was somewhat comforted. 



228 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTEK XL. 

COLUMBUS UNDER A CLOUD. 

1500-1502. 

Though the king and queen received him well, and 
showed sorrow for the unjust treatment he had under- 
gone, they did not really take Columbus back into favor. 
It was nearly a year before an order was given that the 
property which Bobadilla had seized should be returned, 
and his eighth of the revenue paid him. Meantime 
Columbus was poor, and under a sort of disgrace. His 
right to govern the lands he had discovered and to an 
interest in the voyages made to the New World, as well 
as the descent of the honors in his family, seemed likely 
all to be lost. He was again a poor man, begging favors 
of the Spanish court, and being put off from time to 
time. This was very unjust, for the great ideas and the 
noble perseverance of Columbus had given to the Span- 
ish crown lands many times larger than the whole of 
Spain. 

While Columbus had been away struggling with his 
unhappy colony, or coming home in chains, a great deal 
had happened in the world of discovery. The Portu- 
guese, after so many years, had carried out Prince Hen- 
ry's scheme of sailing around Africa and so reaching 
India. Yasco da Gama had arrived at Calcutta at the 
same time that Columbus was setting out on his third 



COLUMBUS UNDER A CLOUD. 



229 



voyage, in which he discovered the main-land of South 
America. Yasco da Gama found at Calcutta most of 
the treasures for which Columbus had looked so eagerly 
in the New World. The Rajah of Calcutta sent a letter 
to the King of Portugal, which 
read : " Yasco da Gama, a no- 
bleman of your household, has 
visited my kingdom, which has 
given me great pleasure. In 
my kingdom there is an abun- 
dance of cinnamon, cloves, gin- 
ger, pepper,and precious stones 
in great quantities. What I 
seek from thy country is gold, 
silver, coral, and scarlet." Da 
Gama returned from his long 
voyage, having lost half his 
vessels and more than half his 
men, but he was hailed with 
great joy in Portugal. 

While Columbus was struggling with his rebellious 
colony, the Portuguese had sent out a line fleet of thir- 
teen vessels to again make the voyage to India. They 
sailed far west to avoid the coast of Africa, where there 
were calms, and the fleet was blown by a storm to the 
very shores of the l^ew World. As Brazil, where they 
landed, was east of the line within which the Pope had 
allowed Portugal to make discoveries, the Portuguese 
made haste to claim this new land. It has been said 
that this accidental discovery of the ISTew World by the 
Portuguese proves that America would soon have been 
found if Columbus had never had his noble idea of 




PORTRAIT OF VASCO DA GAMA, 
FROM A MANUSCRIPT OF HIS 
TIME. 



230 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

sailing westward. Perhaps, however, the Portuguese 
seamen would not have ventured any farther to the 
west than they had done before if Columbus had not 
first dared to sail straight out into the boundless ocean. 
At least, it is far more interesting that the discovery 
should have been made by a man who thought it out 
first, and overcame so many obstacles to accomplish it. 

Of course, the court of Sj)ain was jealous of the 
Portuguese discoveries, just as the Portuguese court 
had been jealous of the discoveries of Columbus. The 
finding of Brazil by Portugal, and the finding of North 
America by Cabot for England, made King Ferdinand 
anxious to make settlements in the New World as rap- 
idly as he could, lest other powers should grasp too 
much of these vast lands which were coming to light. 
The Spanish court was poor, and could not afford alone 
to push Spanish discoveries very far. So a license had 
been granted for Spaniards to fit out ships at their own 
expense. In this way the crown was sure of a share 
in the profits without taking a share in the expense, 
though the rights of Columbus were left out of the 
account. 

The result had been that there were several expedi- 
tions sent out to the New World after Columbus sent 
word of the discovery of pearls. In these voyages 
sailed those who had been old captains under Columbus, 
such as the Pinzons, and pilots who had been with him 
on his different voyages. One at least of these ships 
brought back a rich load of gold and pearls. 

King Ferdinand probably thought that Columbus 
was not a good governor. Perhaps the plans which he 
cherished for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre and 



COLUMBUS UNDER A CLOUD. 231 

the notions he held about the Garden of Eden and the 
mines of Solomon made him seem to the king a vision- 
ary. At any rate, Ferdinand appears to have been sorry 




RUINS OF ST. NICHOLAS CHURCH, SANTO DOMINGO. 

that lie had given Columbus privileges so vast, and he 
was resolved to evade these obligations of his when it 
was possible. 

Bobadilla had managed as badly as possible at His- 
paniola. Under the privileges which he had rashly 
granted when he first landed, the colonists gave them- 
17 



232 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

selves up to all sorts of disorders. As he had allowed 
them to gather gold and pay only one eleventh to the 
crown, he was anxious that as much gold should be 
gathered as possible, in order that the crown should not 
lose by it. So the Indian chiefs were made to furnish 
slaves to w^ork in the mines and in the fields. The 
seeds of slavery which had been planted in the days of 
Columbus were growing fast. The Indians were cru- 
elly treated, and as they were not a liardy race they died 
off rapidly. Worthless Spaniards, who had been crimi- 
nals at home, took on the airs of grand gentlemen. 
When they traveled they were carried by Indians in 
their hammocks, with slaves to hold palm-leaves over 
their heads and fan them with feather fans. Meantime 
the unhappy porters had their shoulders bleeding from 
carrying the ropes of the hammocks across them. 

King Ferdinand appointed Nicholas de Ovando to 
govern the colony in place of Bobadilla. This gov- 
ernor was to reform abuses, require one third of the 
gold found, and check the growing evil of slavery, only 
forcing Indians to w^ork for the crow^n, and paying them. 
With Ovando, the first negro slaves were permitted to 
be taken out to the New World, and so slavery w^as 
firmly planted in these beautiful tropical lands ; for In- 
dian slavery, having once been allowed, could never be 
rooted out until the weakly race had perished under its 
severities, while the negroes, who were a much hardier 
people, w^ould speedily take the place of the natives. 

Ovando was sent to Hispaniola in a fleet of thirty 
ships, with everything that could be needed for the col- 
ony. The new governor w^as allowed to dress in silks, 
brocades, and precious stones, in order to appear the 



^^" 



^ 








- r'T'iair ^ n ^ 




COLUMBUS UNDER A CLOUD. ^33 

more dignified. This kind of dress was forbidden in 
Spain, because the nobility were extravagant. Govern- 
ments were much given to meddling in matters of dress 
in those days. 

Soon after Ovando sailed there was a terrible storm, 
the fleet was scattered, and the shores were strewed with 
things washed over from the ships. When this news 
reached Ferdinand and Isabella they shut themselves up 
for eight days, and gave way to grief, but they were 
comforted when it was found that only one ship had 
been lost. 

Columbus must have thought it hard that Ovando 
was sent to Hispaniola so much better provided than he 
had ever been ; but the king and queen promised him 
that they would restore him to the government of the 
island when the troubles there should have had time to 
subside. The mind of the great discoverer was now 
more than ever filled with his dream of rescuing the 
Holy Sepulchre. He wrote a long paper to convince 
the king and queen that this was the thing that they 
should do. Columbus wished to undertake another voy- 
aoje to the New World, with the idea that he could 
find a strait somewhere that should lead through the 
lands already found to the Eastern countries, which, in 
the notions of that day, lay just beyond ; but what Co- 
lumbus thought most about was finding riches enough 
to carry out his plan of conquering Jerusalem from the 
infidel. 

The great discoverer was allowed four little ships for 
his voyage. It was agreed that he was to go to an un- 
discovered part of the New World, and was not to touch 
at Hispaniola on his outward voyage. 



234 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

Before Columbus sailed once more for the Kew 
World, he put all his papers in careful order. As he 
considered that he might never come back from this 
voyage, he made arrangements for the distribution of 
his property. One of his plans was to leave one tenth 
of his revenue, if it should ever come to amount to any- 
thing, to the Bank of St. George, in Genoa, to be used 
to reduce the tax on corn, wine, and other provisions. 
It is evident that Columbus remembered his native city 
with affection, and generously wished to lift a little of 
the burden of taxation off of plain people, such as his 
own family had been. 



COLUMBUS PREDICTS A HURRICANE. 235 



CHAPTER XLI. 

COLUMBUS PREDICTS A HURRICANE. 

1502. 

Columbus set sail on his fourth voyage to the new 
world on the 9th of May, 1502, nearly three months 
after Ovando had sailed for Hispaniola. He took with 
him his brother Bartholomew and his younger son, 
Ferdinand, who was not quite fourteen years old. He 
made a quick passage, and on the 15th of June sighted 
one of the Caribbee Islands called Mantinino, or Mar- 
tinico, as it is now called. The ships stopped at this 
island for three days, taking in wood and water, while 
the men washed their clothes. The admiral sailed next 
to the Island of Dominica ; from there to Santa Cruz 
and along the south side of Porto Rico. He had meant 
to go to Jamaica and from there to the continent, but 
one of his ships was a very bad sailer and could not 
carry much canvas, and he wished to exchange her for 
another vessel or buy one outright. So he steered for 
his old home at Hispaniola, though he had been forbid- 
den to do this. 

At the time when Columbus neared Santo Domingo 
Ovando had been in the island for about two months, had 
taken the government away from Bobadilla, had made 
a strict investigation of the conduct of Roldan and the 
other rebels, and had caused many of them to be arrest- 



236 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



ed, in order to be sent to Spain for trial. The fleet in 
which Ovando had come out was abont to sail on the 
return voyage when Colnmbus appeared. A great deal 
of gold, which had been gathered by Bobadilla during 
his government, was loaded on the largest ship, in which 

Bobadilla himself was 
to sail. There was one 
nugget weighing thirty- 
six hundred castellan os, 
which had been found 
by an Indian woman in 
a brook. Her Spanish 
masters are said to have 
dined on roast pig, 
served on this piece of 
gold. In this ship was 
to sail also the chief 
Guarionex, who had 
been a prisoner all. this 
time. Eoldan and those 
of his followers who 
were arrested, as well as 
others, put their gold 
into different vessels of 
the fleet. One ship was loaded by the agent of Colum- 
bus with his share of the treasure, which amounted to 
four thousand pieces of gold. 

It was the 29th of June, and the richly laden fleet 
was about to set sail when Columbus arrived. He sent 
one of his captains on shore, asking that he might get 
a ship in exchange for the one which sailed badly, and 
also begging that he might be allowed to take shelter in 




ii^llfl 



i: 



CEIBA TREE, TO WHICH IT IS SAID THE 
SHIPS MOORED IN COLUMBUS' TIME. 



COLUMBUS PREDICTS A HURRICANE. 237 

the harbor, for he thought that a storm was coming. 
But Ovando refused. Perhaps he may have feared that 
some injury might be done to the discoverer, since San- 
to Domingo was at that time full of his enemies, who 
were very angry because so many of their friends had 
been arrested. Columbus sent the captain back once 
more to Ovando, begging him not to let the fleet sail 
for several days, as there was a storm coming. But 
Ovando paid no heed to the warning of the discoverer, 
and the fleet sailed, putting directly out to sea. Colum- 
bus left the harbor also, driven away from the shores 
he had discovered. His men grumbled because they 
had sailed with an admiral who w^as treated in this way. 

Columbus had not seen the hurricanes of the tropi- 
cal countries without observing the signs of them. He 
hugged the shore of the island, as he expected the 
storm would come from the land side. In two days 
tlie hurricane came. It was a terrible storm. The fleet 
of Bobadilla was scattered hither and thither. Several 
ships went to the bottom. Bobadilla, Boldan, and some 
of the worst enemies of Columbus, as well as the chief 
Guarionex, and the great mass of gold and other riches, 
were swallowed up in the ocean. It was a kind of case 
of poetic justice, for it is even said that the only ship 
which was able to sail on for Spain was the one on 
which the gold belonging to Columbus was put. 

It was a fearful time for the fleet of Columbus. 
The ships weathered the first day, under shelter of the 
land. The next day the storm was w^orse than ever, 
and the vessels lost sight of each other. Columbus, ac- 
cording to his first plan, still hugged the shore, but the 
others ran out for sea-room at night. Don Bartholo- 



238 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

mew, who commanded the poorest sliip, l)arely escaped 
shipwreck At last they all got together in a wild bay. 
The vessels which had run out to sea were more or less 
injured, while Columbus had lost his long boat. 

When the news reached Santo Domingo that the 
enemies of Columbus had been ingulfed, while he was 
safe, there were men w^ho said that Columbus had 
brought about this storm by magic, in order to revenge 
himself on Bobadilla. In those days, a man of more 
knowledge than the common was likely to be suspected 
of dealings with evil spirits. 



COLUMBUS AT HONDURAS. 239 



CHAPTEE XLII. 

COLUMBUS AT HONDURAS. 
1502. 

Columbus had no sooner put out of harbor than he 
was forced back by a fresh storm. At last he made a 
start, and sailed to some little islands near Jamaica, 
where the men got fresh water by digging holes in the 
sand. There was a calm, and the currents carried the 
ships over to the coast of Cuba, where were the keys 
that had been called the Queen's Garden. A favorable 
wind presently began to blow, and Columbus struck out 
for fresh discoveries, sailing southwest from Cuba. He 
reached the main-land in the province of Honduras. 
The admiral sent his brother Bartholomew ashore. 
The people seemed to be much like the Indians they 
had seen before, except that their foreheads were a little 
larger. The sailors discovered a good deal of copper 
here, which they took for gold and gathered greedily, 
trying to hide it when they went on shipboard, so that 
it would not be taken from them for the crown. 

While Bartholomew Columbus was ashore a great 
canoe arrived from some other country. This boat was 
made of a single tree-trunk, but was eight feet wide and 
very long. In the middle of it was a cabin, so thickly 
covered with palm-leaves as to keep out rain and sea- 
water. Under this cabin were women and children. 



240 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



The boat was paddled by twenty-five men. These In- 
dians did not offer any resistance, but allowed them- 
selves to be captured by the white men. The women 
were wrapped in cotton mantles, and the men wore cot- 
ton cloths about their middle. They were somewhat 
better clothed than any Indians found in the New World 
before. It is thought that this canoe came from Yuca- 




Kj}^^"fS^ 



i>ouTh Utncrico. 



MAP OF COLUMBUS' LAST VOYAGE OF DLSCOVERY. 



tan, where the people, who lived on the border of Mex- 
ico, were more civilized than elsewhere. The boat was 
probably on a trading voyage. It was loaded witli all 
kinds of Indian goods. There were sleeveless cotton 
garments, embroidered or dyed in various colors, aprons 
of cotton such as the Indians wore, and mantles of cot- 
ton cloth. Then there were copper hatchets and wooden 
swords, which had grooves cut in each side, in which 
sharp pieces of flint were tied by cords made of the in- 
testines of fish. This kind of weapon was afterward 



COLUMBUS AT HONDURAS. 241 

found among the Mexicans and in Virginia. There 
were also utensils made of clay, stone, or hard wood, 
and a great many cacao-nuts. The Spaniards had not 
yet been introduced to the drink called chocolate, which 
was made out of this nut. They noticed that when an 
Indian let one of the cacao-nuts drop, he picked it up 
in as much haste as though he had lost an eye out of 
his head. The fact is that the Indians used the cacao- 
nuts for money, and this is why they were so afraid of 
losing one. Columbus selected what he thought most 
interesting from the goods of these people, and, having 
paid them in trinkets, he set them free, all but an old 
man, whom he kept for a guide. 

AVhen asked where they came from, these Indians 
had pointed toward the west. If he had sailed west and 
north, Columbus might have discovered the empire of 
Mexico, but he turned eastward. He was looking for a 
strait which should lead to India, and expected to find 
it by sailing toward Paria. The admiral did, indeed, 
sail to where the two great continents were joined by a 
narrow isthmus, which was the nearest approach to a 
strait. The fact seems to be that Columbus asked the 
Indians where there was a strait, and they pointed to- 
ward Panama ; but the white men and natives did not 
understand each other very well, and the Indians meant 
a strait of land — that is, an isthmus. Columbus hoped 
to press through the strait and so reach a sort of middle 
sea like the Mediterranean, which should quickly lead 
to India. Of course, he had no dream of such an im- 
mense ocean as the Pacific. Had there been a strait, 
Columbus would probably have tried to go around the 
world, and would have perished of hunger if he had not 



242 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

turned back. Long after he was dead, discoverers were 
still looking for a passage through the American conti- 
nent. The Isthmus of Panama is a very inconvenient 
affair, and the strait is still so much wanted that in our 
day two canals have been undertaken, with a view of 
getting through from ocean to ocean. 

Bartholomew Columbus landed at Cape Honduras 
on the 14th of August and said mass. Again he landed 
at a river which he called the Eiver of Possession, be- 
cause he took possession of the country here in the 
usual style. The Indians of this place brought food 
and laid it at the feet of Don Bartholomew, and then 
moved away without saying anything. Bartholomew 
offered them little beads and bells, which they came 
and took ; but when he tried to talk with them he could 
not make them understand, even with the help of the 
old interpreter. The next day these Indians brought 
fowls, eggs, roasted fish, red and white beans, and other 
Indian food, to the white men. 

The Spaniards noticed that the natives of this coast 
made a sort of cuirass of quilted cotton to protect 
themselves from arrows. In one place the people were 
very dark, and the old interpreter assured them that 
these savage-looking fellows ate human flesh. These 
Indians heightened their ill-looks by slitting their ears 
and stretching them by some means, so that the slit 
alone was large enough to pass an egg through. The 
Spaniards named this region La Costa de la Oreja, or 
the Coast of the Ear. 

The ships made their way, hindered by contrary 
currents and frequent storms, along a low but beautiful 
shore. The people were almost entirely naked, though 



COLUMBUS AT HONDURAS. 



243 






some of them wore a sort of sleeveless shirt. Their 
bodies were tattooed or otherwise bedizened with the 
figures of animals and Indian cabins, which produced a 
curious effect. The most important men among them 
wore pieces of white and red cotton on the head, or 
tresses of hair hanging down in front. On dress occa- 
sions they painted their faces black or red, or streaked 
them with lines of various 
colors, while some were con- 
tent with blacking around their 
eyes. When these savages 
thought themselves the finest, 
the white men were of the 
opinion that they looked very 
much like devils. 

For some two months Co- 
lumbus struggled along the 
coast of the new continent, op- 
posed by contrary currents and 
incessant storms. Sometimes 
the tempest w^as so frightful 
that it seemed as though the 
end of the world had come, and 
the terrified sailors confessed '^^'^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^ ^"^^^^ ^^^^° 

ON THE HONDURAS COAST. 

their sins to one another. The 

ships grew more and more leaky, the sails were torn, 
and the provisions were hurt by being mixed wdth 
sea or rain water. Columbus fell ill of the gout. 
He had a small cabin built on the stern of his ship, 
and here he lay in his bed and kept a lookout. 
Sometimes he was so ill that he expected soon to die. 
At such times he was anxious about his brother Bar- 




244 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

tliolomew, who had not wanted to come on this voyage, 
and about little Ferdinand. Then he would think of 
Diego, whom he had left in Spain, and wonder whether 
he would ever manage to regain the rights which he 
had worked so hard to leave him. As for the boy Fer- 
dinand, among all the trials of the voyage he was as 
steady as a man of eighty, as his father said, taking in 
with boyish interest all that he saw. 

At last the ships doubled a cape, and the sailors 
found that the land turned suddenly southward, while 
the wind was with them. Columbus and his men were 
joyful at the change, and named the cape Gracias a 
Dios, or Thanks to God. At this point they set ashore 
their good old interpreter, loaded with presents, for 
they had come to a region where he no longer under- 
stood the speech of the natives. 



MAGIC POWDER AND GOLD PLATES. 245 



CHAPTEK XLIII. 

MAGIC POWDER AND GOLD PLATES. 
1502. 

The ships sailed south along what is to-day called 
the Mosquito Coast. In the rivers were reeds, some of 
them as thick as a man's leg, and many alligators. At 
one place there w^ere twelve small islands, which Co- 
lumbus called the Limonares, because they were cov- 
ered w^ith lime-trees, and the- limes seemed to Columbus 
much like lemons. 

The vessels had sailed a long distance, and the men 
were in want of water. Two boats were sent up a river 
to get it. As they came back they were caught in a 
swelling of the sea caused by the waves rushing against 
the river current. One boat was overturned, and all on 
board were drowned. The sailors, who had already 
had a hard time of it, were disheartened by this acci- 
dent. Columbus called the stream the Kiver of Dis- 
aster. 

After several days the admiral thought to give his 
men a rest, so he anchored between a little island and 
the mainland. The little island sent off a very sweet 
smell. There were many fruits growing on it, among 
which were bananas. On the main-land was a beautiful 
hilly country, with trees so high that they seemed to 
reach to the sky. The Indians, however, were un- 
18 



246 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

friendly, and got together on the shore well armed and 
ready for a tight. But the white men did not try to 
land. They calmly rested on deck or busied themselves 
drying the wet provisions. Seeing that the strange 
beings were so peaceable, the Indians presently began 
to w^ave cotton mantles on the shore by way of inviting 
the white men to land. After a while they grew bold, 
and swam out to the ships with mantles and sleeveless 
shirts of cotton, and ornaments made of the mixed gold 
called quanin. 

Columbus tried a new plan with these Indians. He 
would not take anything from them, but gave them 
trinkets, thinking that he would make an impression on 
them by being very generous. It seems to have made 
them suspicious, however, for when they got ashore 
they tied together all the things that the white men had 
given them and left them on the beach. No doubt 
they thought that there was something magical about 
these men, and were afraid of their gifts. 

Some of the Spaniards one day went cautiously 
ashore to get w^ater. When the boat w^as about to land 
an old Indian came out from the trees with a white 
cloth tied to the end of a stick as a sign of peace. He 
led two little Indian girls, who had ornaments of quanin 
hanging from their necks One of these girls was 
about fourteen and the other about eight years old. 
The old man brought them to the Spaniards, and 
seemed to want them to keep the girls as hostages. So 
the Spaniards went ashore and tilled their water-barrels, 
while the Indians kept at a distance, and took pains not 
to frighten the strangers by any movements. When 
the Spaniards started to leave, the old man made signs 




<»1 



MAGIC POWDER AND GOLD PLATES. 247 

that they were to take the girls with them. So the 
two httle Indian girls were taken on board the ad- 
miral's ship. After thej had been feasted they were 
sent ashore, but as it was now dark, and their friends 
were gone, they were brought back again and spent the 
night on shipboard, where Columbus was very careful 
that the rough sailors did them no harm. They were 
sent back the next morning, and their friends received 
them joyfully. The same day, when the boats went 
ashore once more, the girls came with crowds of other 
Indians to return the presents that had been made to 
them on the ships. 

The next day Don Bartholomew started to go ashore. 
Before his boat reached the land two Indians waded 
out into the w^ater, and, taking him out of the boat, 
carried him on land and sat him down upon a grassy 
bank. Bartholomew Columbus began to question the 
Indians about their country. He ordered a notary who 
was with him to write down what was understood to 
be their answers. The notary, getting out pen, ink- 
horn, and paper, began to write. This was too much 
for the Indians, who thought this the performance of 
some spell, and fled in all directions. They presently 
returned, throwing a fragrant powder from a safe dis- 
tance and burning some of it so that the smoke should 
blow toward the white men. The Spaniards were now 
disconcerted in their turn, for Europeans were almost 
as superstitious in those days as were the Indians. They 
began to think that these people were sorcerers. They 
thought they knew now why they had been retarded 
so much in sailing along these coasts. Ko doubt some 
spell had been worked by the witchcraft of the In- 



248 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

dians. Even Columbus said that the people of Cariari, 
as this region was called, were great enchanters, and 
thought that the Indian girls who had come on board 
the ship had magic powder hidden about them. 

In spite of the dreaded magic powder, Bartholomew 
Columbus made several trips ashore well protected, not 
by magic amulets but by good Spanish arms. He 
found nothing but quanin among the natives, but they 
told him that farther on he would find gold. He went 
into one of the Indian villages, and found in a large 
house some sepulchres. In these were bodies wrapped 
in cotton cloth and so embalmed that there was no bad 
odor from them. The corpses were dressed in their 
savage ornaments, and the sepulchres w^ere adorned with 
Yude carvings and paintings. 

Before he left, Columbus had seven of the people 
seized. From them he selected two whom he thought 
the most intelligent, and let the others go. The Indians 
on shore were greatly distressed at this, and sent pres- 
ents to the white men, begging for the release of their 
friends. Columbus tried to explain that he wanted 
them for guides, but they probably did not understand 
this, and perhaps wished that they had used more magic 
powder. 

Columbus next sailed along a shore which has since 
been called Costa Rica, or Bicli Coast, on account of the 
gold and silver mines which were afterward found here. 
He then entered the lagoons of Chiriqui, through a deep, 
narrow channel, where the rigging brushed against the 
branches of the trees which hung over the water. The 
Spaniards landed on one of the islands here. The In- 
dian guides, whom Columbus had stolen from the land 



MAGIC POWDER AND GOLD PLATES. 249 

of magic powder, encouraged the natives of this island 
to come and trade with the whites. These people had 
large pieces of pure gold hanging by cotton cords 
around their necks. One of them sold a plate worth 
ten ducats, or about twenty dollars, for three little 
hawksbells. 

The Spaniards made a second visit to the main-land 
the next day. Ten canoe-loads of Indians met them, 
adorned with flowers, and coronets made of the claws of 
animals and quills of birds. These Indians w^ore around 
their necks large plates of gold, hammered thin and bur- 
nished, but refused to sell them. The Spaniards capt- 
ured two of them to carry off as guides. One of them 
wore a gold plate, and another an eagle made of gold. 

In spite of the gold w^iich Columbus found at Chiri- 
qui, he hurried on eastward in search of the strait for 
which he was looking. As was always the case w^ien 
Columbus tried to talk with the Indians by signs, he 
had got hold of a strange story. This time it was about 
a land in the interior w^here the people were rich and 
civiHzed, having ships, guns, and horses. This country 
was surrounded by the sea, while the river Ganges was 
thereabouts. Columbus thought that this desirable 
country must be on the other side of the land where 
he now w^as, which was, perhaps, a great peninsula like 
Spain. He expected soon to find an opening like the 
strait of Gibraltar, through which he would pass and 
reach some Eastern country, belonging perhaps to the 
Empire of the Grand Khan. 

The next stopping-place of Columbus w^as at the 
mouth of a large river on the coast of Yeragua. Some 
of the Spaniards rowed to land in the ships' boats. 



250 



TPIE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



About two hundred Indians assembled on the shore, 
armed for a light, and kept up a lively din with 
wooden drums and conch-shells. As the boats neared 
land, the savages ran out into the sea up to their mid- 
dles, splashing the water to show their fury. The 
Spaniards made signs of peace, however, and the na- 
tives were presently pacified, and consented to trade. 
Seventeen plates of gold were bought this day. The 
next day, when the sailors w^ent back again, the Indians 
were as fierce as ever, rushing forward to the sound of 



r 




FISTIC INDIAN BUILDING /€ 



CIIARACTERISTI 

OF THE COAST, 



drum and conch-shell, determined upon a battle. A 
cross-bow was fired at them, and wounded a savage in 
the arm. The Indians were quieted by this, but when 
a cannon was fired from one of the ships they all fled. 
Four Spaniards ran after them, calling to them to come 
back. They threw down their arms meekly enough, 
and brought three plates of gold as an offering to the 
white men. 

The ships sailed on along the coast of Yeragua and 
stopped again at another river. Here also there was a 



MAGIC POWDER AND GOLD PLATES. 251 

great noise of druins and conch-shells, and the savages 
were soon in battle array. Presently a canoe came off 
to the ships with two men in it. They talked with the 
interpreters, and were soon persuaded to go on board. 
They returned satisfied to the shore, so the Spaniards 
landed. Here they found a naked king among naked 
subjects. The only mark of distinction which this chief 
allowed himself was the having a very large leaf held 
over his head while it rained. He and his people ex- 
changed nineteen large plates of gold for trinkets. The 
Spaniards found in this place some sort of a solid build- 
ing, the first seen in the New World. Columbus kept a 
piece of the stone and lime of Avhich it was made to 
carry back with him. This was probably one of the 
structures the ruins of which are still to be seen in parts 
of Central America. 



252 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTER XLIY. 

BACK TO THE LAND OF GOLD. 
1502-1503. 

The ships ran by a number of towns where the 
guides said there was gold, but the wind was so very 
fresh that Cohimbus did not stop. His next anchorage 
was in a harbor which he called Puerto Bello, or Beauti- 
ful Port. Instead of being surrounded by forests, this 
bay had open country about it. There were many In- 
dian houses standing in groves of fruit trees, while 
between them lay fields of corn, vegetables, and pine- 
apples. This looked something like the fields and or- 
chards of the Old World, and was a refreshing sight to 
homesick men. The Spaniards stayed seven days at 
Puerto Bello, because there were heavy rains and 
storms. The Indians brought them fruits, vegetables, 
and balls of cotton, but there was not much gold in this 
country, for only a few chiefs had some pieces hanging 
from their noses. 

The admiral sailed on eastward from here, but he 
did not go very much farther. Indeed, one of the 
Spanish ships which had recently made a voyage to 
these parts had explored about as far as this from the 
other direction, though we are not sure whether Colum- 
bus knew this. At any rate, he began to give up the 
strait that he wished for so much, though he did not 



BACK TO THE LAND OF GOLD. 253 

know that lie had just coasted the shore of the great 
isthmus. It had taken four months to explore as far as 
this, and it is not strange that he had become discour- 
aged, and thought it better to return to the part of the 
coast where he had found gold. He had had a very 
hard and stormy voyage, and his ships were becoming 
more and more worm-eaten, which is something that 
happens to vessels in these seas if they are not covered 
with plates of copper. The worms are as large as a 
finger, and bore through the ship's hull, so that she soon 
becomes very leaky and unseaworthy. 

The last stopping-place eastward was in a little bay, 
which was so small that Columbus called it El Retrete, 
or The Closet. In this tiny port the ships were an- 
chored within jumping distance from the shore. There 
were many alligators here sleeping in the sun. The 
vessels were so near to land that Columbus could not 
prevent the rude sailors from getting on shore without 
permission. They slept in the Indian cabins, an ar- 
rangement w^hich soon ended in brawls between white 
men and natives. The Indians grew more and more 
fierce and numerous, and Columbus finally fired a can- 
non, loaded only with powder, hoping to frighten them 
away. But they answered with hoots and yells, and did 
not take themselves off until a genuine shot was thrown 
among them. 

After waiting nine days in the little harbor for 
storms to blow over, the ships set sail again. Columbus 
turned about and sailed westward from this point, but 
he was tormented with contrary winds. Presently a 
nine days' storm arose. The sea seemed to boil, and at 
night the great waves shone like fire with a phosphores- 



254 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

cent light, which must have seemed terrible to the sailors. 
There was terrific thunder and lightning, and, to add 
to every other terror, the ships were chased by a great 
water-spout. The sailors confessed their sins to each 
other and got ready to die. When the water-spout 
arose they repeated parts of the Gospel of John, and 
believed that this was all that saved them from being 
swallowed up in the column of whirling water. 

After a time there came a calm, but the men were 
gloomy. They shook their heads and did not believe 
that good weather would last. Many sharks were seen 
around the ships. This was a bad sign. Sharks, it was 
thought, could scent the bodies of those who were 
doomed to die. These sharks were, they thought, wait- 
ing to swallow them when the ships should go down. 
JN^evertheless, the men went about fishing for the sharks, 
using chains for fish-lines and colored cloth for bait. 
They caught several. Inside of one shark they found 
a live tortoise, while in another was a shark's head 
which the men had but just thrown out. In the end 
the sailors got the better of their fear, and made a meal 
of the sharks, instead of the sharks making a meal of 
the sailors. In fact, the provisions were pretty well 
eaten up by this time. The sea-biscuits that were left 
were so wormy that the Spaniards preferred to eat them 
in the dark, for the sake of their appetites. 

About the middle of December the ships came to a 
resting-place in a harbor which looked like a large 
canal. In this place the Indians built their houses in 
trees, on poles laid across the branches. 

It took Columbus nearly a month to make the dis- 
tance back to Yeragua, where he wanted to go because 



BACK TO THE LAND OF GOLD. 255 

it was the place in which he had found gold, and where 
the Indians all told him there was much of this metal. 
During all this month the winds w^ere so contrary that 
Columbus called this region the Coast of Contradic 
tions. 

As the mouth of the Yeragua River was too shallow 
for ships to enter, Columbus sailed over a bar and into 
a river near the Yeragua, which he called Belen, or 
Bethlehem. There were very good signs of gold here. 
The Spaniards bought twenty plates of the precious 
metal, some pipes made of gold and pieces of ore. 
The Indians said that the gold came from the mount- 
ains, toward which they pointed, but they said that it 
was necessary to fast in getting it. The fact is that 
they had an idea that strict fasting was a kind of charm 
which gave good luck in finding gold. The Indians of 
Hispaniola had the same notion. 

These Indians brought the white men plenty of fresh 
fish and ornaments of gold, which they sold for trink- 
ets. They said that the gold came from the Yeragua. 
So Bartholomew Columl)us made a trip over to this 
river. The chief of the river, whose name was Qui- 
bian, came down the stream with a number of his men, 
in canoes, to meet Don Bartholomew. He was a tall, 
fierce-looking warrior. He gave Bartholomew all the 
ornaments of gold he had on in exchange for the usual 
treasures of bells and beads. The chief made Columbus 
a visit on ship-board the next day. He had a good deal 
of Indian stolidity, so that the white men could not get 
much out of him. There was another exchange, how- 
ever, of trifles for gold ornaments. 

After Columbus anchored in the river Belen it 



256 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

rained for nearly six weeks. During this time the river 
rapidly swelled, and its swift-rolling currents broke the 
cables of the ships, almost carrying them away. When 
the storm at last subsided, Bartholomew Columbus went 
over to the river Yeragua to look for the gold mines 
the white men had heard so much about. He went up 
the river until he came to the village of the chief Qui- 
bian. This naked monarch, very much painted, came 
down to the shore to meet the white men. One of his 
men took a stone out of the river, and, having care- 
fully washed it, offered it to his chief for a seat. The 
Spaniards imagined that this was a savage style of 
throne. Quibian and Bartholomew Columbus had a talk, 
which ended in the chief granting three guides to the 
Spaniards to take them to the gold mines. 

Don Bartholomew left some men to guard his boats, 
and set out for the mines with the rest of the party. 
They crossed the windings of a river something like 
forty times, and slept that night on its banks. The 
next day they reached the region of gold, and found 
grains of the precious metal among the roots of the 
trees. The guides took Bartholomew to the top of a 
mountain and pointed out the country all around, saying 
that it was all a country of gold. Bartholomew Colum- 
bus might perhaps have seen the Pacific Ocean from 
the top of this mountain had he been looking for it. 
The Spaniards afterward heard that the wily Quibian 
had shown them mines which were in the country of 
an enemy of his, and that Quibian's mines were really 
much nearer. They were also told that at these nearer 
mines a man might gather as much gold in a day as a 
child could carry. 



BACK TO THE LAND OF GOLD. 25Y 

Don Bartholomew took fiftj-nine men and went on 
another expedition westward along the coast, while an 
armed boat from the ships followed him by water, so 
that he should not get into trouble. He found many 
gold plates worn by the Indians, and bought them for 
trifles. He saw also great fields of Indian corn, and 
many delicious fruits. 

The news of so much gold was enough to inflame 
the very lively imagination of Columbus. He thought 
that Yeragua must be some part of Asia. It is true 
that the people were naked and uncouth, but then they 
might be fishing tribes, while there was possibly some 
great empire inland. He concluded that the mines of 
Quibian were indeed the mines of Solomon. He after- 
ward said that he saw more signs of gold while he was 
in Yeragua than he had seen in Hispaniola in four 
years. 

Columbus conceived a plan for founding a new set- 
tlement in this land of riches. He decided to leave his 
brother Bartholomew in command of a colony of eighty 
men, and hurry away himself for re-enforcements and 
provisions. All that Columbus could spare now for the 
colony was a small amount of biscuit, cheese, pulse, 
wine, oil, and vinegar. But there was food enough in 
the country — Indian corn, yams, potatoes, bananas, plan- 
tains, pine-apples, and cocoa-nuts — while in the rivers 
there were fish, and for drinks the Indians made a beer 
of corn and a wine of pine-apple juice. The Spaniards 
who were to stay began building little houses, framed 
out of wood and covered with palm-leaves. Columbus 
made a number of presents to Quibian, hoping in this 
way to put him in a good humor toward the settlements. 



258 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTEE XLY. 

DEALINGS WITH QUIBIAN. 
1503. 

When the admiral tried to sail out of the river he 
found that since the rains had ceased the water had 
fallen so low that it was impossible to get over the sand- 
bar at its mouth. There was nothing to do but to wait 
for more rain. This was lucky for the little colony, for 
already there was trouble brewing with the Indians. 
As Columbus said, " the natives were of a very rough 
disposition, and the Spaniards very encroaching." The 
chief, Quibian, presently planned an attack on the white 
men, hoping to massacre them all and burn their ships. 

There w^as a young man among the Spaniards, 
named Diego Mendez, who saved the settlement by his 
shrewdness and courage. He afterward wrote an ac- 
count of this affair in his wilh The Indians seemed to 
be gathering together. They passed the ships in great 
numbers. When asked wliat was going on, they an- 
swered that they were going to attack the country of a 
neio-hborino; chief. Mendez went to Columbus, and 
said : 

" Sir, these people who have passed by in order of 
battle say that they go to unite themselves with the 
people of Yeragua to attack the people of Cobrava 
Aurira. I do not believe it; but, on the contrary, I 



DEALINGS WITH QUIBIAN. 259 

think that thej are collected together to burn our sliips 
and kill all of us." 

"What are the best means of preventing this?" 
asked Columbus. 

Diego Mendez said that he would go himself and 
make a visit to the " rojal court," as he called the vil- 
lage of Quibian. So he took a boat and rowed along 
the shore toward the mouth of the Yeragua Eiver. He 
did not go far before he discovered some thousands of 
Indians assembled on shore. Evidently the " royal 
court" was on the move. Mendez went ashore, ordering 
his men to keep the boat afloat at a little distance from 
shore, so that it should not be captured. He had a talk 
with Quibian, in which he told him that since he was 
going to war he had come to go with him. Quibian 
refused this offer rather too earnestly, and Mendez con- 
cluded that his conjecture was right, and that the In- 
dians really meant to attack the white men. So he re- 
turned to his boat and lay in sight of the hostile camp 
all night. This measure disconcerted Quibian very 
much. Indians always fight by surprises ; so Quibian 
and his men retreated to their village to wait for a more 
favorable moment. Meantime Mendez returned to Co 
lumbus to report. Columbus was anxious to find out 
clearly what was going on among the Indians ; so 
Mendez ofl:'ered to go and make another visit to Quibi- 
an with only one companion, though this was really a 
very dangerous undertaking. Mendez and a man 
named Escobar w^alked along the beach until they came 
to the Yeragua River. Here they found two canoes 
with strange Indians in them. These natives told Men- 
dez that the Yeragua Indians were planning to attack 
19 



260 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

the white men, that they had given it up because they 
had been watched, but that they would try it again in 
two days. Mendez tried to hire these Indians to take 
him and Escobar up the river in their canoes to Qnibi- 
an's town. The Indians, however, wished to be excused, 
and advised the white men to keep away if they did not 
want to be killed. But Mendez insisted, so the Indians 
took him and his companion up the river. 

The warriors at Quibian's town were all armed and 
ready for battle. At first they would not let the Span- 
iards go near the house of their chief. But Mendez told 
them that he had come to cure tliis personage of a cer- 
tain wound that he had in his leg. He made the In- 
dians some presents, and they then suffered him "to 
proceed to the seat of royalty," as he termed it. This 
same seat of royalty was situated on the toj) of a hill- 
ock, in the midst of a square which was ornamented by 
some three hundred ghastly heads of Quibian's enemies 
killed in battle. Mendez walked boldly through the 
square straight to the "royal palace." There was a 
great clamor of women and children, who ran scream- 
ing into the palace when Mendez approached. One of 
the chief's sons came out at this, saying some very an- 
gry words in his own tongue. He gave Mendez a push 
which threw him back a number of steps. N^othing 
daunted, Mendez showed the fellow some ointment, ex- 
plaining that he had brought this medicine to cure his 
father's leg. But the son would not hear to the white 
man's going in to see Quibian. So Mendez tried an- 
other plan. He took out a pair of scissors, a comb, and 
a lookinof-orlass. To show the Indians the use of these 
articles, he made Escobar comb his hair and cut it off 



DEALINGS WITH QUIBIAN. 261 

while he regarded himself in the glass. The natives 
looked on with interest. When Mendez had been duly 
barbered, he presented the scissors, comb, and looking- 
glass to the chief's son. The fellow was appeased, and 
presently agreed to send for some food. The Spaniards 
and Indians ate and drank together " in love and good- 
fellowship, like very good friends," as Mendez said, 
though he saw nothing of Qnibian. 

Mendez went back to the ships with his tale. An 
interpreter whom the admiral had taken from the In- 
dians of the neighborhood also told Columbus that Qui- 
bian was indeed planning to massacre the white men. 
There was no more time to lose. It was a favorite plan 
of the Spaniards, in managing the Indians, to capture 
their chiefs. Don Bartholomew now took seventy-four 
well-armed men with him and quickly ascended the 
Yeragua. When the party reached the village of 
Quibian, that chief sent them word that they were not 
to come up to his house. The real reason why Quibian 
was so jealous of the white men coming to his cabin 
was said to have been because he was afraid that they 
would see his wives, for the natives had already had rea- 
son to be jealous of the Spaniards with regard to their 
women. Don Bartholomew paid no heed to the chief's 
wishes, but walked straight up to the " seat of royalty." \ 
He took only five men with him, however, for he did 
not wish to frighten Quibian into flight. He had 
agreed wdth the others that they were to remain below 
until they heard the report of an arquebuse. 

When Bartholomew Columbus got near the chief's 
house, an Indian came out and begged him not to enter, 
for the chief would come out to see him. Quibian pres- 



262 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



ently came and sat in his doorway, asking Don Bar- 
tholomew to come up to him alone. Bartholomew told 
his men that they were to stand back until they saw him 
take hold of the arm of the chief, when they w^ere to 
come to his aid. He and his Indian interpreter, who 
was trembling with fear by this time, approached Quibi- 

an. Don Bartholomew 
talked a little with the 
chief about his wound, 
and then, pretending 
that he wanted to look 
at it, he took hold of 
the chief's arm. There 
was a pretty lively strug- 
gle between Bartholo- 
mew Columbus and Qui- 
bian, for they were both 
powerful men ; but four 
of the Spaniards soon 
came to the aid of Don 
Bartholomew, while the 
fifth fired an arquebuse, 
wdiich brought the other 
soldiers rushing up to 
the " seat of royalty." 
Quibian's cabin was surrounded, and some fifty men, 
women, and children, the most important persons 
among the Indians, were captured. The w^arriors 
wailed aloud, and begged for the liberty of the prisoners, 
offering to give Don Bartholomew some treasure that 
they said was hidden in the woods near by. But Bar- 
tholomew Columbus was deaf to their prayers. He had 




DON BARTHOLOMEW EMBRACES THE CHIEF. 



DEALINGS WITH QUIBIAX. 263 

found, indeed, some very fine ornaments in the cliief s 
cabin — plates, collars, chains, and coronets made of gold. 

The captives were given to a pilot named Juan San- 
chez to be taken to the ships. Don Bartholomew 
warned him not to let the chief escape. Sanchez swore 
by his beard that nothing of the sort should occur. 
Quibian was bound hand and foot and tied to a boat- 
seat. When they got well out into the river the chief 
made very bitter complaints that the ropes hurt him. 
Sanchez finally took pity on him, and, unfastening the 
rope from the boat-seat, held it in his hand. They had 
nearly reached the mouth of the river, when Quibian 
suddenly plunged into the water, and Sanchez had to let 
go of the rope to keep from falling in himself. It was 
as though a stone had fallen into the river. 'No more 
was seen of Quibian, and, as his hands and feet were 
bound, it was thought that he had been drowned. In 
spite of this misfortune, Columbus flattered himself 
that, if he carried off his family and principal men as 
hostages, there would be peace for the settlement. 

When the Spaniards had first come to the river Be- 
len they had prayed for dry weather, and now that it 
was dry they were praying for rain, that the ships might 
get over the bar and sail away. Rain came at last, the 
ships were lightened of their cargoes, and were towed 
over the bar in calm weather by the boats, one vessel 
being left behind for the colony. The cargoes were 
then carried out to them, and they were ready to sail 
when a favorable wind should come. Riding at anchor 
outside, Columbus did not know that Quibian was by 
no means drowned, and was planning to revenge himself 
on the little colony. 



264: THE STOKY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTER XLYI. 

quibian's reyenge. 
1503. 

QuiBiAN, of course, hated the white men more than 
ever when he saw his family and friends carried out to 
sea in the ships. He fell upon the settlement, and this 
time the Spaniards were taken by surprise. Their first 
warning was the war-whoop of the savages from the 
woods close to the settlement. The Indians '' began to 
shoot their arrows and hurl their darts as though they 
were attacking a bull," as Diego Mendez expressed it. 
The little palm-leaf houses were soon riddled. Arrows 
were falling thick as hail, and some Indians ran for- 
ward, hoping to club the wounded men in true Indian 
fashion. Don Bartholomew and Diego Mendez, how- 
ever, rallied the men, who made good use of their lances 
and swords, killing such Indians as were bold enough to 
approach the settlement. The battle lasted for some 
three hours, but the Indians finally retired, having killed 
one Spaniard and wounded eight, among whom was 
Don Bartholomew. 

While the fight was going on a boat from the ships 
came into the river. This boat was in charge of Diego 
Tristan, who was captain of one of the vessels, and had 
been sent to get fresh water before sailing. Tristan 
selfishly refused to land at the settlement for fear so 



QUIBIAN'S REVENGE. 265 

many of the besieged men would try to jump on board 
his boat as to upset her. When he saw that the fight 
was over, he went up the river to where the water was 
fresh, although the men at the settlement had warned 
him not to go. When he got to a lonely part of the 
stream where the woods were very thick, he was sud- 
denly attacked by numbers of ambushed Indians, while 
many canoes shot out from the banks. The panic" 
stricken Spaniards thought only of shielding themselves 
from the hail of arrows by their bucklers. Tristan 
tried to encourage his men to fight, but he was suddenly 
killed by a javelin entering his eye. Upon this the 
canoes surrounded the boat, and all the men were soon 
killed, except one cooper, who fell overboard, dived, and 
got away by swimming under water. He carried the 
bad news to the settlement. Presently the bodies of 
the murdered men floated down the river, and carrion 
birds could be seen fighting and screaming over them. 
The colonists were in a panic. The men would gladly 
have taken the caravel which had been left in the river 
and sailed out to join Columbus, but the water was 
again too shallow at the bar. They tried to get out 
with a boat, but the surf rolled so high that they dared 
not attempt it. 

Meantime the natives were wild with delight over 
their success in massacring the boat's crew, which was 
a true Indian exploit. They only waited a good chance 
to obliterate the settlement. The woods echoed with 
the blowing of conch-shells and the sound of war- 
drums, and it was not safe for a Spaniard to venture 
away from the settlement. They no longer dared to 
stay in their frail houses which stood near the woods, 



266 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

where the Indians could attack them too readily from 
behind trees. So they camped on the shore behind a 
breastwork made of the ships' boats, some chests, and 
some barrels, with two brass pieces called falconets for 
artillery. 

Meantime Columbus was waiting uneasily on ship- 
board, wondering why Diego Tristan did not return. 
The surf was running so high that he dared not risk 
his last boat ; his ships w^ere so rotten and worm-eaten 
that time was precious if he were to reach Spain, or 
even Hispaniola ; and he was in danger of being struck 
by a tropical tempest if he stayed much longer on this 
shore, where he could not put in to harbor. The Indian 
prisoners, w^hose captivity Columbus had hoped would 
secure safety for his colony, were shut up in the hold 
of the ship. The only opening into this place was a 
trap-door, which had not been locked at night because 
several sailors slept about it. Suddenly, in the night, 
some of the Indians opened the trap-door, and, throwing 
themselves into the water, made their escape by swim- 
ming. When the sleepy sailors were roused to what 
was going on, they shut the trap-door and chained it 
down. In the morning, when they entered the hold, 
they found that the Indians who had not escaped had 
all hung or strangled themselves, for the decks were so 
low that the knees of some touched the floor. Such 
was the despair of these people at the prospect of being 
carried away from their homes. 

Columbus was getting very anxious about the colony. 
There was a pilot on board, named Ledesma, who 
thought that if Indians could swim ashore, he could ; 
so he was rowed out to the surf by some sailors, and he 



QUIBIAN'S REVENGE. 2^7 

plunged in and swam to the settlement. He foimd the 
little colony in the misery of a panic, shut up behind a 
feeble barricade with a small allow^ance of provisions. 
Ledesma swam back through the surf to where the boat 
was waiting for him, and returned to the ships with the 
bad news of the murder of Tristan and his men and the 
dangerous predicament of the colonists. 

Columbus was in despair. He was anxious about 
his colony, which it was impossible to succor through 
the raging surf, and at the same time he feared to waste 
any more . time on this coast with his ships at the point 
of sinking. Worn out with anxiety and suffering with 
a fever, he toiled up to the highest part of his ship and 
wept, wdiile with a quivering voice he cried for help 
to come to him from Spain. At last he fell asleep 
exhausted, when he heard in a dream a kind voice 
reproach him for calling for uncertain help instead of 
calling upon God, who had given him the keys to the 
" barriers of the ocean sea which were closed with such 
mighty chains," and had " brought wonderful renown " 
to his " name throughout all the land." The voice also 
remarked somewhat satirically that the acts of God, 
unlike those of men, answered to his words, and that he 
performed his promises with interest. " Fear not," the 
voice said in conclusion ; " all these tribulations are re- 
corded on marble, and not without cause." 

o^ot long after Columbus had had this cheering vi- 
sion, which Avas no doubt the reflection of his own 
thoughts and of a spirit rising to fresh emergencies in 
the face of illness and disappointment, the w^ind fell and 
there was a calm, so that the ships were no longer shut 
off from those on land. Diego Mendez made some bags 



268 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

out of the sails of the caravel that was in the river and 
put all the sea-biscuit in them. He then fastened two 
canoes together, and, loading them with the bags of bis- 
cuit and ammunition, had them towed out to the ships. 
By a great deal of hard work all the effects of the col- 
ony were moved out in this way, followed by the men, 
a few at a time, Diego Mendez and five others waiting 
for the last boat-load. 

There was great joy on the ships when the Spaniards 
had all got safely together again. Columbus embraced 
the faithful Mendez and kissed him on both cheeks. 
As there was one shij) without a captain, on account of 
the death of Tristan, Mendez was given the honor, such 
as it was, of commanding a worm-eaten vessel which was 
constantly on the point of sinking. 



STRANDED. 269 



CHAPTEE XLYII. 

STRANDED. 

1503. 

Although Columbus was a visionary man when lie 
gave rein to his imagination, he was certainly a very 
skillful sailor. He started eastward from Yeragua, along 
the coast, instead of sailing north, as his men thought he 
should do, to reach Hispaniola. They imagined that he 
was going to undertake the voyage direct to Spain in 
his leaky ships, instead of going to Hispaniola, and they 
accordingly grumbled. But Columbus knew perfectly 
what he was about, and did not wish his men to know, 
for already some of his old pilots had directed merchant 
ships to the lands which he had discovered, where they 
had reaped the profits. He afterward boasted that none 
of his crew could find the way back to Yeragua. The 
reason why he steered so far east before sailing north 
was that he wished to allow for the currents, which al- 
ways carried ships westward in these parts. He sailed 
eastward to about the region of the Gulf of Darien, and 
then struck north for Hispaniola. 

Columbus had to abandon one of his ships on the 
way, so worm-eaten was she, and now there were but 
two left. These were scarcely able to keep above water. 
The pumps were kept going all the time, and, besides 
this, the men had to bale constantly with kettles and 



270 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

pans to keep down the water wliicli ran in at the worm- 
holes. In spite of all the efforts of Columbus to steer 
far enough east to strike the island of Hispaniola, the 
currents carried him to the Queen's Garden, off Cuba, 
instead. Here he anchored, and was struck by a storm, 
in which three of his cables broke, while the two ships 
were driven together, smashing the bow of one and the 
stern of the other. There was only one anchor left to 
save the admiral's vessel from being driven headlong 
ashore, and by morning the cable which held the ship 
to this anchor was worn almost in two. 

After the storm was over Columbus bent his course 
east for Hispaniola. His men were disheartened, his 
anchors nearly gone, and his vessels " as full of holes as 
a bee-hiv^e," as he said. He anchored at Cape Cruz, on 
the island of Cuba, and got a supply of cassava bread 
from the Indians, for the ships' stores were all used up 
except a little biscuit, oil, and vinegar. The winds were 
contrary, the ships were in danger of foundering, and 
Columbus dared not try to make the remaining distance 
to Hispaniola. It was necessary to put in to shore be- 
fore it was too late. So Columbus made a port on the 
island of Jamaica. As there was no fresh water here, 
and no Indians from whom he could get food, Colum- 
bus sailed eastward to another harbor, which is now 
called Don Christopher's Cove. Here, on the 24th of 
June, 1503, the wretched ships were run aground within 
a bowshot of the shore and fastened together. They 
soon filled with water up to the decks. Columbus had 
thatched cabins built on their bows and sterns, and here 
he resolved to stay for the present. He forbade the 
sailors going ashore to live, for he knew well what he 



STRANDED. 271 

called the encroaching character of his men, and for 
the safety of the company it was absolutely necessary 
that no such troubles should arise between them and the 
natives as there had been at Yeragua. The lives of the 
Spaniards depended on the friendship of these savage 
people, for they must starve unless the Indians supplied 
them with food ; while, on the other hand, the natives, 
once angry, might easily throw a firebrand into the 
midst of the thatched cabins on the ships — firebrands 
being favorite weapons with American Indians. 

Soon after the white men had stranded on the island 
of Jamaica the natives began to swarm around the 
ships, ready to trade. Columbus made it the business 
of two men to do the trading, so that there should be no 
disputes. Thus the Spaniards were furnished, for the 
time, with food. But there were over two hundred 
hungry men to feed, and the Indians were uncertain and 
improvident. They did not like to work well enough 
to raise more food than they wanted. When an Indian 
had possessed himself of a comb, a knife, some beads, 
bells, and fish-hooks, in exchange for cassava bread, 
yams, potatoes, and fruit he was a rich man, and did not 
trouble himself to bring any more food to the strangers. 

When the last ration of wdne and biscuit had been 
dealt out, the good Diego Mendez donned his sword, 
and with three companions, together with a supply of 
combs, knives, beads, bells, and a brass helmet in a 
bag, set out to look for food. He was fortunate 
enough to find some Indians who were in a good 
humor and received him very kindly. Mendez made 
an agreement with these Indians that they Avere to 
make cassava bread and hunt and fish for the white 



272 



THE STORY OP COLUMBUS. 



men, while they should be paid in blue beads, combs, 
knives, hawksbells, and fish-hooks. When this agree- 
ment had been made, Mendez sent back one of the men 
he had brought with him to Columbus to tell him of 
the bargain that had been made, so that he would be 
ready to pay the Indians when they came with the 
food. Mendez then went to another village, and made 
the same agreement with the Indians who lived there. 
He sent back a second man from here. He journeyed 
on until he came to the town of a great chief named 
Huarco. Huarco received Mendez very well, gave 










HULL OF A SHIP OF COLUMBUS' TIME. 



him plenty to eat, and ordered his people to bring to- 
gether all the food they could in three days. They 
brought the food accordingly, and laid it before their 
chief. Mendez agreed with Huarco that he should 
keep on sending food to Columbus. He then sent his 
last companion back to the ships with the provisions. 
Mendez now begged Huarco to let him have two In- 
dians to go with him to the end of the island, one to 
carry his food and the other to carry the hammock in 
which he slept at night. Tlie chief consented, so Men- 



STRANDED. 273 

dez traveled alone with two Indians to the east end of 
Jamaica. Here lived a chief named Ameyro. Men- 
dez and Ameyro struck up such a friendship that they 
exchanged names, which is a favorite pledge of broth- 
erly love among barbarians. In truth, Mendez wanted 
to buy a fine, large canoe of Ameyro. He offered him 
the brass helmet which he had carried with him all the 
way in a bag, for this very purpose, no doubt. They 
struck a bargain, with the addition to the brass helmet, 
of a frock and a shirt, as the price of the boat. Ameyro 
threw in six Indians to paddle the canoe back to the 
ships. Mendez reached the vessels with his canoe 
loaded with a goodly amount of provisions, of which 
the hungry Spaniards were glad enough, for they were 
entirely out of food once more ; and Columbus embraced 
the brave Mendez, and gave thanks to God that he had 
gone safely through so many savage tribes. 



2Y4 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

CJOLUMBUS HAS A PLAN. 
1503. 

Columbus had been thinking a great deal about 
how he and his men were to get safely away from this 
wild island. He wished to get a letter to Ovando, the 
governor of Hispaniola, so that a ship might be sent to 
the reUef of the stranded crews. The sight of the 
handsome canoe of Mendez gave him an idea. About 
ten days after the brave fellow had returned from his 
foraging trip, Cokimbus called him aside, and said to 
him : 

" Diego Mendez, my son, not one of those whom I 
have with me has any idea of the great danger in which 
we stand except myself and you ; for we are but few in 
number, and these wild Indians are numerous, and 
very fickle and capricious; and whenever they may 
take it into their heads to come and burn us in our 
ships, which we have made into straAV-thatched cabins, 
they may easily do so by setting fire to them on the 
land side, and so destroy us all. The arrangement that 
you have made with them for the supply of food, to 
which they agreed with such good-will, may soon prove 
disagreeable to them ; and it would not be surprising if, 
on the morrow, they w^ere not to bring us anything at 
all ; in such case, we are not in a position to take it 



COLUMBUS HAS A PLAN. 2Y5 

by main force, but shall be compelled to accede to their 
terms. I have thought of a remedy, if you consider it 
advisable, which is, that some one should go out in the 
canoe that you have bought, and make his way in it to 
Hispaniola, to buy a vessel with which we may escape 
from the extremely dangerous position in which we now 
are. Tell me your opinion." 

" My lord," answered Mendez, '' I distinctly see the 
danger in which we stand, which is much greater than 
would be imagined. With res])ect to the passage from 
this island to Hispaniola in so small a vessel as a canoe, 
I look upon it not merely as difficult, but impossible ; 
for I know not who would venture to encounter so ter- 
rific a danger as to cross a gulf of forty leagues among 
islands where the sea is most impetuous and scarcely 
ever at rest." 

But Columbus thought it might be done, and that 
Mendez was the man to do it. 

" My lord," replied Mendez, '' I have many times 
put my life in danger to save yours and the lives of 
those who are with you, and God has marvelously pre- 
served me. In consequence of this there have not been 
wanting murmurers, who have said that your lordship 
intrusts every honorable undertaking to me, while there 
are others among them who would perform them as 
well as I. My opinion is that your lordship would do 
well to summon all the men and lay this business before 
them, to see if among them all there is one who will 
volunteer to take it, which I certainly doubt ; and if all 
refuse, I wdll risk my life in your service, as I have 
done many times already." 

The next day Columbus called all the men together, 
20 



276 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

and proposed that some one should volunteer for the 
trip to Hispaniola in a canoe. All were silent. Pres- 
ently some said that it was an impossible undertaking 
to cross such a large gulf in a canoe, for ships had been 
lost in trying it. Then Mendez got up, and said : 

" My lord, I have but one life, and I am willing to 
hazard it in the service of your lordship, and for the 
welfare of all those who are here with us ; for I trust 
in God that, in consideration of the motive which actu- 
ates me^ he will give me deliverance, as he has done on 
many other occasions." 

Columbus arose, embraced Diego Mendez, and kissed 
him on the cheek. 

" Well did I know," said he, '^ that there was no one 
here but yourself who would dare to undertake this en- 
terprise. I trust in God, our Lord, that you will come 
out of it victoriously, as you have done in the others 
which you have undertaken." 

The next day Mendez pulled his dug-out canoe up 
on shore, covered it with pitch, and nailed some boards 
along the edge to keep out the waves. He then put a 
mast in hei and rigged a sail. Having laid in pro- 
visions for his voyage, and taken one Spaniard and six 
Indians with him for oarsmen, he set out for the east 
end of Jamaica. Here he met with ill luck, for he 
was seized by a party of Indians, who resolved to kill 
him. They had a dispute over who should fall heir to 
his canoe and its contents, and while they were playing 
a game of ball to decide this momentous question, 
Mendez made his escape to the desirable canoe, and so 
back to the ships, after having been gone fifteen days. 

Columbus asked Mendez if he was willing to un- 



COLUMBUS HAS A PLAN. 27Y 

dertake the voyage again. Mendez said he would, if 
he might have a force of men to protect him until 
he could get away from the island. This time a man 
named Fiesco agreed to go with Mendez, and there 
were to be two canoes and several other Spaniards, as 
well as Indian paddlers. Mendez was to carry letters 
to Ovando, begging for a ship to release the stranded 
men. He also carried a sad letter which Columbus had 
written to Ferdinand and Isabella, in which he de- 
scribed his pitiful plight. After taking the letters to 
Ovando and getting relief for the colony, Mendez was 
to go on to Spain and deliver this letter to the king and 
queen. As for Fiesco, if they succeeded in crossing to 
Ilispaniola, he was to return in one of the canoes, so 
that the stranded men might know that the trip could 
be made. 

Bartholomew Columbus was sent along shore with 
ninety armed men to protect the expedition. Mendez 
waited for three days on the end of the island, until the 
Aveather was perfectly calm. He then set out. The ca- 
noes were provisioned with cassava bread, the flesh of 
utias, and calabashes of water. Don Bartholomew and 
his men watched the little crafts until they were mere 
specks on the water, and then returned to the ships. 



278 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

A MUTINY. 
l50Jf. 

The men on the stranded ships kept up hope for a 
while, looking for the return of Fiesco. But weeks 
wore by in this dreary business of waiting, and he did 
not return. Perhaps Mendez and his men had been 
drowned ; may be they had been massacred by In- 
dians after they had reached Hispaniola. Many of 
the men fell ill of malarial fevers, while Columbus was 
stretched on his bed, once more, with the gout. Con- 
fined to the old hulks, the time hung heavy on the 
hands of those who were w^ell. They had nothing to do 
but to imagine evil things. It was very easy for a 
couple of troublesome brothers named Porras, one of 
them a captain and the other a notary, to take the lead 
of the discontents among the common sailors. It was 
plain, they said, that Columbus was banished from 
Spain, as well as from Hispaniola. Peally, he had sent 
Mendez and Fiesco to go to Sj^ain and get his recall from 
banishment, and not to get a ship. As for the admiral, 
he was content to keep his men here until he was re- 
called. The proof of all this was that neither Fiesco 
nor the ship came to their relief. There was nothing 
for the men to do but to take canoes and go to Hispa- 
niola themselves. Columbus was too gouty ; he would 
never undertake anything of the sort. 



A MUTINY. 279 

It was the 2d of January, 150i, about a year from the 
time that Cohimbus had landed at Yeragua. The ships' 
crews had already spent four months on the stranded 
vessels. The mutineers got together, well armed, and 
burst into the little cabin where Columbus lay ill of the 
gout. Captain Porras was spokesman. 

" How is it, sir," he demanded roughly of the sick 
admiral, " that you have set your head on remaining 
here, and do not think of returning to Spain ? " 

Columbus was astonished at the insolent manner in 
which Porras spoke, but he answered : 

" I have very plausible reasons for staying here in 
default of all means of transport ; and again, I am only 
waiting for the coming of the ship, which will probably 
be sent from the island of Hispaniola, to take to the 
sea and return to Spain — " 

'' A truce to vain words," interrupted Porras 
brusquely. " Embark immediately or stay here, in the 
name of God. As for me, I am going to Spain with all 
those who will consent to go with me." Immediately 
there arose shouts from the armed mutineers. 

" To Castile ! to Castile ! " they cried. " Death to 
him who does not follow ! What shall we do, captain ? " 
The whole deck was in an uproar. Columbus jumped 
out of bed, stumbled and fell from weakness, but got up 
again and appeared on the deck. Three or four faith- 
ful fellows, fearing that he might be hurt by these mad- 
men, took him in their arms and forced him back into 
his cabin. Don Bartholomew was for attacking the 
mutineers, lance in hand, but those who were faithful 
to Columbus persuaded him to go into the caljin with 
the admiral and leave the matter to them. They then 



280 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

begged Porras to go by all means if he wished to go, 
saying that nothing was to be gained by violence, since, 
if he caused the death of Columbus, he would only 
bring down certain punishment on his own head. 

The mutineers proceeded to go. They took pos- 
session of ten canoes that Columbus had bought from 
the Indians, and forty-eight men departed in them as 
merrily as though they w^ere sure of reaching Spain. 
The sick men lying on board the ships, seeing so many 
of the healthy desert them, shed tears. Columbus 
crept out of his bed to console the poor fellows. He 
told them that when he got back to Spain he would 
tlirow himself at the feet of the queen and beg that they 
might be rewarded for their loyalty. 

Meantime the mutineers took their course to the 
end of the island, despoiling tlie Indians by the way, 
telling them to go to Columbus for their pay, and kill 
him if he did not pay them well. Arrived at the east- 
ern point of Jamaica, they set out for Hispaniola with 
Indian oarsmen to paddle their canoes. They had gone 
four leagues, when the wind rose, the waves ran high, 
and the brave rebels, beginning to be frightened, turned 
back for the island. A wave dashed over one of the 
canoes, and the men began to throw everything out of 
their boats to lighten them. The canoes still shipped 
water, and the cowards next threw the Indians over- 
board, excepting just enough of them to do the pad- 
dling. When the poor wretches, exhausted with swim- 
ming, caught hold of the canoes, the Spaniards slashed 
off their hands with swords. The mutineers returned 
to Jamaica, and ended by roaming about the island and 
robbing the natives when they dared. 



COLUMBUS MAKES USE OF AN ECLIPSE. 281 



CHAPTER L. 

COLUMBUS MAKES USE OF AN ECLIPSE. 

Though the sick on board the ships were left with 
very few well men to defend them in case of an attack, 
they really fared better for a while after the mutineers 
had left them, for there was now more food to be di- 
vided among them, and they gradually came back to 
health once more. But as time went on, the Indians 
sliirked their bargains as usual. They began to hate 
white men on account of the bad behavior of the muti- 
neers, and when they did bring food they demanded a 
very large amount of trinkets as pay. 

It may be supposed that the stock of beads, bells, 
iish-hooks, combs, and knives was not endless. Colum- 
bus was once more in extremity, when he had a happy 
thought. He knew that there was to be a total eclipse 
of the moon in three days. He sent a Hispaniola In- 
dian who was with him to see the chiefs and call a 
council for the day of the eclipse. When the Indians 
had come to his council, Columbus made them a speech. 

" We believe," said he, " in a God who lives in the 
skies, who loves the good, aiid punishes the wicked 
terribly, even though they are chiefs. You have seen 
that he did not allow those among us who revolted to 
go to Hispaniola, while he did let the faithful ones go. 



282 THE STORY OF COTATMBUS. 

For this reason, this God who loves us, seeing that you 
will no longer bring us or sell us any provisions, is an- 
gry with you, and is going to send you famine and sick- 
ness. But as you will not believe these words, he has 
charged me to let you know that he will show this night 
a sign of his anger, in throwing a darkness over the 
moon, which will be a proof to you of the evils with 
which you are threatened." 

The Indians went away when Columbus had done 
speaking. Some were a little troubled, others laughed. 

Evening came. The moon rose, and soon after the 
eclipse began to come on. It did not take long to rouse 
the terror of the natives. The darker the moon grew 
the more frightened they were. They made haste to 
fill their arms with the first food at hand and run to the 
ships. They came crying and begging Columbus to 
intercede with his God, and they would promise that 
the white men should have enough after this. 

Columbus said that he would go and see what he 
could do. He shut himself up in his cabin, while the 
Indians stood in terror on the shore as the moon grew 
more and more dark. Columbus stayed in his cabin 
during the whole increase of the eclipse. When it was 
time for the eclipse to begin to diminish, he came out 
and told the Indians that his God would forgive them 
if they would treat his people well and give them plenty 
to eat after this. The Indians were very much relieved 
when they saw the darkness slowly go off the moon^ 
and they went away thinking, no doubt, that Columbus 
was a very great medicine-man. 



A VOYAGE IN A CANOE. 283 



CHAPTEH LI. 

A VOYAGE IN A CANOE. 
150J^. 

Eight months wore away, and the men on the 
stranded ships had heard nothing of JVIendez and Fiesco. 
What had become of the adventurers ? Could they 
cross one hundred and eighteen miles of water in 
canoes ? They had started off on a calm evening. 
There was no wind, and not a cloud was to be seen. 
In due time the sun rose and beat down on the sea with 
a terrible heat. Diego Mendez steered, while the In- 
dians paddled. The natives soon became exhausted with 
the heat, but they would jump into the water, take a 
swim, and then go at their work again. The red-hot 
sun went down at last, and by this time the few men in 
their dug-out canoes were entirely out of sight of land. 
All night long the Indians took turns in paddling, half 
of them working while the other half slept as best they 
could. The Spaniards also slept by turns, for they dared 
not all sleep at once for fear of treachery on the part of 
the Indians. 

Morning found both Spaniards and Indians worn 
out. Land was out of sight, and the little canoes stood 
in great danger of capsizing should the wind come up. 
The sun rose and began to shine with tropical heat. 
The improvident Indians had drunk up all their water 



284 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

tlie day before, and tliey began to suffer terribly from 
thirst. The longer the sun beat upon their naked 
bodies the more 'they suffered. By noon they were 
almost fainting, and could not work any longer. At 
this critical moment Mendez and Fiesco discovered two 
small kegs of water, which they had probably hidden 
for such an emergency. They gave this out, a mouthful 
at a time, to the men, and that mostly to the Indians 
who did the work. 

There is a small guano island called Navaza, which 
lies some forty miles off Hispaniola. Diego Mendez 
had steered for this island, hoping to lind there water 
and rest. The Indians paddled feebly on the rest of 
the day. The Spaniards talked about Navaza, and tried 
to encourage their men with the thought of soon reach- 
ing this resting-place. They calculated that they had 
come far enough to find it now. They strained their 
eyes trying to discover the little island, but there was 
not a cloud nor a speck to be seen on th^ horizon. 
And so the sun went down. Now they were afraid 
they would miss Navaza in the dark, and if this should 
happen they must all die of thirst and exhaustion before 
they reached Hispaniola. Some of the Indians lay 
fainting in the bottom of the boats. One of them died 
from heat and thirst, and his body was thrown into the 
water. A few still paddled feebly. The night wore 
on. The last drops had been drained out of the little 
kegs. The poor natives tried to cool their mouths with 
sea- water, which only added to their torment. One 
by one the disheartened paddlers gave up to suffering 
and despair, and fell limp in the bottom of the boats. 
It was late in the night. Mendez had kept up heart 



A VOYAGE IN A CANOE. 285 

till now, but he at last began to despair. The moon 
was slowly rising, and he was looking hopelessly on, 
when he suddenly noticed that she seemed to come up 
from behind something dark. He gave the joyful cry 
of land. The Indians sprang up, and found that they 
could manage to paddle a little more. The land was 
the small island of Kavaza, which they would never 
have found if the moon had not shown it to them in 
rising behind it. 

The canoes sped along now. By daylight the ex- 
hausted men landed on the island, which was nothing 
more than a large rock several miles long. There were 
no springs here, l)ut the men hurried around and found 
some pools of rain-water in the hollows of the rocks. 
They drank it eagerly. The Spaniards warned the In- 
dians against taking too much water, but it was of no 
use. Several died from overdrinkino^. 

The men next began to think of eating. They 
gathered some mussels along the shore. Mendez built a 
fire, over which they broiled the shell-fish, which made 
a very tolerable meal. Spaniards and Indians rested 
and dozed all day in the shade of the rocks. When 
night came they set out once more for Hispaniola, which 
they could see in the distance from Navaza. They pad- 
dled all night long, and the next day they reached Cape 
Tiburon, in Hispaniola. They landed at the mouth of 
a beautiful river The Indians were kind to them, and 
they rested here for two days. It had been agreed that 
Fiesco was to return to Jamaica and let Columbus know 
that Mendez had made his trip in safety, but he could 
find no one who would undertake the terrible journey 
back with liim. 



286 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

After he had rested, Mendez set out to make the 
one hundred and thirty leagues to the town of Santo 
Domingo by coasting in his canoe. After going some 
eighty leagues he heard that the governor was in Xara- 
gua, engaged in the usual troubles wdth the Indians. 
So Mendez walked to Xaragua. According to the 
story of Mendez, Ovando hanged and burned eighty- 
four chiefs while he was with him. The Indian prin- 
cess Anacaona was hanged among other unfortunates 
for having engaged in a plot against the whites. 

In truth, though Columbus had not been a perfect 
governor, according to the ideas of our day, Ovando 
seems not to have been a better one. The crowd of 
adventurers who had come out with him had set off 
speedily for the region of gold, expecting to pick up a 
fortune, as people always do in such cases. They 
trudged to the mines, carrying their stock of provisions 
on their backs. They dug faithfully, but as they had 
no skill in mining they found only very good appe- 
tites. In a week or two they straggled back to the 
settlement disappointed men, some of them to die of 
want, and others to fall victims to the fevers of these 
sea-coasts. 

The Indians had been at first freed from slavery as 
Queen Isabella had commanded, but Ovando presently 
wrote to Spain that they would not work unless they 
were forced, and that they kept away from the wdiite 
men, so that there was no hope of converting them as 
the queen wished. The Spaniards on the island were 
then allowed to force the Indians to work, if they 
paid them and converted them. This permission soon 
threw the natives into bondage again, for the pay was 



A VOYAGE IN A CANOE. 287 

almost nothing, and the conversion amounted to a hasty 
baptism. They were divided up among the white men 
and made to work for them for six or eight months 
in the year. They toiled in the fields or in the mines, 
fed only on a little cassava bread and roots, and scram- 
bling under the table of their masters to get the bones 
they dropped. When we remember that Indians died 
off very rapidly in a civilized life at its best, it is not 
strange that many of these people perished at their 
work, died on their way home, or after they got to their 
cabins, when they found them deserted by their wdves 
and children, and nothing planted in their little fields. 
It is not strange that there were bloody uprisings, 
which w^ere crushed by the iron heel of the Spaniard, 
who, dreading the cruel vengeance of barbarians re- 
duced to slavery, was himself made the more cruel by 
his fears. 

Ovando was kind to Diego Mendez, but he delayed 
about sendino: relief to Columbus. There were no 
ships suitable, and there were other reasons for waiting. 
Eeally, Ovando feared Cohmibus, who had been granted, 
as we know, the government of the lands he should 
discover so long as he lived, and he much preferred that 
Columbus should remain in Jamaica for the present. 



288 



THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 



CHAPTEE LII. 



A SMALL BATTLE. 



1504. 




The men on the stranded 
ships at Jamaica were getting 
desperate. There was a story 
that the hull of a vessel had 
been seen floating in the wa- 
ter, bottom up. No doubt 
^__ this was the craft sent 

:z ^ to rescue them, they 
thought. Another mu- 
tiny had been planned 
among the men on 
board the sunken hulks. It was on the point of break- 
ing out, when a sail was seen. There was intense joy 
among the men. But the ship kept cautiously out to 
sea, and only a boat approached the old thatched hulls. 
The captain, a man named Escobar, an^l an old enemy 
of Columbus, delivered a barrel of wine and a case of 
bacon as a present from the governor of Hispaniola, 
saying that he greatly regretted that he had not a ship 
large enough to take Columbus and his men over. He 
offered to take a letter back. Columbus was aston- 
ished and hurt at such cool treatment, but he made 



A SMALL BATTLE. 289 

haste to write a letter to Ovarido, and the ship sailed 
away, leaving the men bitterly disappointed. 

It would not do to let discontent breed in the minds 
of the men, and Columbus pretended to be satisfied 
with the poor comfort the ship had brought him. He 
said that he had refused to go in this vessel, since she 
was not large enough to hold all his company, but that 
a larger ship would soon come to carry them all away. 
Really the admiral felt very much injured by the un- 
kind behavior of Ovando and the tantalizing message 
which he had sent. 

Columbus thought that perhaps he might persuade 
the mutineers to return to duty when they knew that 
a ship had visited him, that Mendez had really reached 
Hispaniola, and that there was good hope of relief. So 
he sent messengers to Porras and his men, offering to 
pardon them if they would submit. But the mutineers 
were afraid that Columbus would prevail upon them to 
give themselves up and then punish them. Some of the 
men of Porras would have liked to go back to their duty, 
but Porras talked them down. He told them that no 
ship had come from Hispaniola. He said that Colum- 
bus, who had some mysterious arts, had conjured up 
the vision of the ship to deceive his men. If there had 
been a ship, why did it disappear in the night ? 

Porras even worked his men up to the point of at- 
tacking the admiral. Columbus heard that the rebels 
were coming to attack him, so he sent Don BartholomcAV 
out to meet them with fifty armed men. Seeing that 
there was likely to be a battle among the white men, 
the Indians began to gather, very much interested. 
Don Bartholomew first sent two messengers to Porras 



290 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

to see if he would come to terms, but lie would not. 
Instead of this, he and five of his men made an agree- 
ment to try to kill Bartholomew Columbus at all 
hazards. The mutineers rushed upon the men from the 
ships. There was a pretty lively skirmish for a little 
while. Porras struck at Don Bartholomew with his 
sword, cut through his buckler, and wounded his left 
hand. But the sword stuck fast in the buckler, and 
Bartholomew caught hold of Porras, and with the help 
of others made him a prisoner. Upon this his men fled. 

The Indians, as is usual with these savages, were 
ready to take whichever side should conquer, so they 
joined the party of Columbus, in great admiration. 
They examined tlie three or four mutineers who lay 
dead on the battle-field, being much interested in the 
wounds made by the white man's weapons. Among 
the dead was a man named Ledesma, the same pilot 
who swam through the surf to get news of the colony 
at Yeragua. He was covered with wounds, and the 
Indians were examining his corpse, when it suddenly 
spoke in a deep, hoarse voice. The Indians took to their 
heels. Did dead men speak among the whites ? In 
reality Ledesma was not dead. He had fallen into a 
cleft in the rock, and was not found until the next day 
by the white men. In sjDite of his many wounds he 
did not die, but got well ; while a man in Don Bartholo- 
mew's party died of a single thrust in the leg. 

The mutineers soon begged forgiveness. Columbus 
pardoned them, but let them stay on shore in charge of 
a captain whom he sent to them, not caring to crowd 
the ships with troublesome fellows. He kept Porras a 
prisoner. 



A SMALL BATTLE. 



291 



Meantime Diego Mendez was doing liis best for 
Columbus in Hispaniola. After he had been there 
eight months some ships arrived from Spain. Mendez 
purchased one of them, and loaded it with meat, hogs, 








MONUMENT TO COLUMBUS AT BARCELONA. 



sheep, and fruit, which he bought out of the money 
that belonged to Columbus from the profits of the gold 
mines at Hispaniola. The man who was an agent for 
Columbus to collect his share of the profits took com- 
mand of the ship, while Mendez went on to Spain. By 
21 



292 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

this time Ovando was getting asliained of the way in 
whicli he had treated the great discoverer ; for people 
in Hispaniola began to talk about it, and priests even 
preached about it from the pulpit. 

Eight days after the rebels had surrendered to 
Columbus the ship from Hispaniola came. Great was 
the joy of Columbus and his men. They had lived a 
year, wanting but a few days, on their stranded hulls, 
in danger of Indians and starvation. They bade good- 
by to the old thatched vessels with light hearts, and 
sailed for Hispaniola, friends and enemies together. 
The winds and currents were so contrary that it took 
them more than a month to reach the settlement at 
Santo Domingo, so persistently did misfortune follow 
them. 



THE LAST DAYS OF COLUMBUS. 293 



CHAPTER LIIL 

THE LAST DAYS OF COLUMBUS. 
150J^-1506. 

Columbus spent about a montli on the island of 
Hispaniola. He caused the ship he had come in from 
Jamaica, and one other vessel, to be fitted up for a 
voyage to Spain. Some of the men who Jiad been in 
Jamaica with him chose to stay at Hispaniola. Colum- 
bus spent all the money he could collect from his 
revenue to take himself and the rest of his company 
home. The return voyage was very stormy. The 
mast of the ship that the admiral sailed in was carried 
away. He was forced to get into the other vessel with 
his brother, son, and servants, and send the dismantled 
one back to Hispaniola. The weather continued to be 
very bad, and the mast on the second vessel was sprung 
in four places. Columbus was lying in his bed with an 
attack of the gout, but he told his men what to do. 
They shortened the mast, and tied pieces of wood taken 
from the cabins to the weak places. Suffering very 
much from his painful illness, the admiral landed at 
last in Spain, and was carried to'Seville, where he hoped 
to rest and get well again. 

When Columbus reached Spain Queen Isabella was 
on her death-bed. She had tried to befriend Columbus 
to the last. She reproved Ovando when she heard that 



294 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

he made trouble about the collecting of what was due 
to Columbus, and censured him for not admitting the 
discoverer to harbor on his voyage out, as well as for 
not heeding his warnings about the storm. She had 
been very indignant when she heard of the execution 
of Anacaona, and had made King Ferdinand promise 
that he would remove Ovando. 

The exposure that Columbus had undergone on his 
voyages, his anxieties, and the painful disease from 
which he suffered, had undermined the constitution of 
the great explorer. Soon after he reached Seville, as 
he was too ill to travel on horseback he asked for a 
litter from the chapter of the cathedral to go to court 
in. The canons lent him the litter which had been 
used for the funeral of Cardinal Mendoza, though it 
was not the custom to do such a thing. But Columbus 
heard of the death of the queen, and knew that the 
court would be in trouble and confusion, and as the 
weather was cold and stormy, and he very ill, he de- 
cided not to go. He had friends at court who were 
doing their best in his cause — his son Diego, the faithful 
Mendez, and others. 

Columbus lay on his bed of pain all winter, longing 
for news or writing melancholy letters to his friends at 
court. Sometimes he wrote w^ords of advice to his eld- 
est son, as though he did not expect to live long. He 
wished Diego to be especially kind to Ferdinand, to 
conduct himself toward him as an elder brother should. 
" Ten brothers would not be too many for you," he 
wrote. " In good or bad fortune, I have never found 
better friends than my brothers." 

The death of Queen Isabella was a great loss to 



THE LAST DAYS OF COLUMBUS. 295 

Columbus, for she had been a good friend to him. 
The king was much more selfish and calculating than 
the queen. Ovando had succeeded in making Hispani- 
ola profitable, while Columbus had not^ so that the king 
was slow in keeping his promise about removing the 
governor. The discoverer suffered from delays in get- 
ting his dues paid him from his share of the gold found 
in Hispaniola, but he was more anxious about the titles 
and honors which belonged to him and his descendants. 
It was his ambition to found a great family. His sons 
had been brought up at court, and he wished to leave 
them grandees. 

King Ferdinand, on the other hand, found it very 
inconvenient to be limited to the family of Columbus in 
selecting a governor for Hispaniola, and he wished tlie 
admiral to take some estates and titles in Spain, in place 
of the revenues and honors that had been granted to him 
in the ^ew World. But the great discoverer, though 
lie was suffering extremely, never for a moment relaxed 
his determination to defend the rights which he had 
earned by the discovery of a new world. 

As the winter wore away Columbus determined to 
attempt the journey to court, in hopes of bringing mat- 
ters to a decision by his presence. There was a law 
then in Spain which forbade people to ride on mules, 
because mules had been used so much for riding that 
the breed of horses had declined. Columbus sent to 
the king and asked permission to use a mule in going to 
court, since the mule was a more quiet animal, and 
would not rack his gouty frame as would a horse. A 
royal ordinance was issued in February permitting Co- 
lumbus to ride a mule, but it was not before May that 



296 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

lie was well enough to go to court even in this way. 
The court was at Segovia when Columbus journeyed 
painfully there, and he followed it afterward to Sala- 
manca and Yalladolid. The king received Columbus 
with kindness, but continually put off granting him his 
rights, hoping that he finally would make up his mind to 
become a Spanish nobleman, and be satisfied with that. 

The winter of 1505-1506 was the last winter of 
the great man's life. He began to despair of living 
to enjoy his rights should he regain them, and he 
begged the king to give the government of Hispaniola 
to his son Diego. " This is a matter," he said, " which 
touches upon my honor. As for all the rest, do as 
your Majesty thinks proper ; give or Avithliold, as may 
be most to your interest, and I shall be content. I 
believe it is the anxiety caused by the delay of this 
affair which is the principal cause of my ill-health." 
But it was all of no use. The king replied favorably, 
but delayed. 

King Ferdinand was not really king over Castile, 
but the kingdom went to Isabella's heirs. As Queen 
Juana of Flanders was her eldest daughter, she and 
her husband, Pliilip the Handsome, were to govern 
Castile. These monarchs arrived in Spain in the last 
months of the life of Columbus. King Ferdinand and 
his court went to meet them, but the discoverer was 
past following in the train of a court. He sent Don 
Bartholomew to see the young king and queen and 
beg for justice at their hands. 

Columbus grew more and more ill at Yalladolid. 
The old wound which he had received at some time 
in his youth reopened. He made his will and got 



THE LAST DAYS OF COLUMBUS. 



297 



ready to die. He bequeatlied to his descendants the 
revenues and rights that he hoped would some time be 
restored to his heirs, for lie had nothing else to give. 
" Hitherto," he says, " I neither have had nor have I 
now any positive income." He made Diego his heir, 
and after him his descendants. In case the line of 



^\. ' . 




-■•■■■' ! J A JS'*« : 



fiil;*. .? 



m^ 




HOUSE IN VALLADOLID IN WHICH COLUMBUS DIED. 



Diego failed, Ferdinand and his descendants were to 
succeed to the estates and honors. Diego was to re- 
lieve all poor relatives. One of the wishes of Columbus 
was that a chapel should be built in the beautiful Yega 
Eeal, where masses should be said for his soul and the 
souls of his family. Another place toward which his 



298 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

affections turned was his native city of Genoa. He 
wished one line of his descendants to be maintained in 
Genoa. And, finally, he did not forget his project for 
the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre. 

Having settled his affairs, Columbus took the sacra^ 
ments of the Church, and, surrounded by seven faith- 
ful servants and his two- sons, he died on the twenty- 
first day of May, 1506. In the excitement over the 
arrival of the new king and queen, the death of the 
great discoverer passed unnoticed, except by the few 
who loved him. 

The body of Christopher Columbus was probably 
interred in Yalladolid, until several years after his 
death, when it was removed to the vault of the Car- 
thusians, in the convent of Las Cuevas, at Seville. The 
remains of his brother Bartholomew and of his son 
Diego were afterward laid beside those of the great 
admiral. The three bodies were later removed to the 
cathedral in Santo Domingo. In 1795, when Santo 
Domingo fell into the hands of the French, the Duke 
of Yeragua, a* descendant of Columbus, removed what 
was thought to be the remains of his famous ancestor 
to Havana, Cuba ; but as there had been no record kept 
of the exact burial-jfiace of Christopher Columbus, it is 
a disputed question to-day whether the dust of the great 
admiral rests in Santo Domingo or in Cuba. 

It was some years before Diego Columbus, the 
eldest son of the discoverer, could get any recognition 
of the riglits which his father had bequeathed him 
from King Ferdinand, who was again governing Cas- 
tile as regent, his daughter having become insane. 
Diego once asked King Ferdinand " why his Majesty 



THE LAST DAYS OF COLUMBUS. 



299 



would not grant him, as a favor, that which was his 
right, and why lie was afraid to confide in the fidelity 
of one who had been reared in his house." The king 






SSI 







Wli/iii|| 






CATHEDRAL AT SANTO DOMINGO, WHERE COLUMBUS^ REMAINS WERE BURIED. 

answered that he could trust him, but that he did not 
like to repose so great a trust at a venture in his chil- 
dren and successors. 

" It is contrary to reason and justice," said the young 
man, " to make me suffer for the sins of my children 
and successors, who may never be born." 

Diego Cohnnbus finally got permission from the 
king to go to law to get his rights. A great law- 
suit followed, wliich was decided in favor of Diego. 
]N"evertheless, the young man would scarcely have got 
any of Ins rights had he not married a young lady 
named Donna Maria de Toledo, a niece of the Duke 



300 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

of Alba and a relative of Ferdinand himself. With 
the influence of a powerful Spanish family to help 
him, Diego Columbus was finally made governor of 
Hispaniola, though this was only a part of the privi- 
leges to which his father had an undoubted right, 
and it was not until some years later that he was allowed 
the title of viceroy. 

In 1509 the son of Columbus sailed for Hispan- 
iola with his young wife, his two uncles, Bartholo- 
mew and Diego, and a line retinue in which were 
many young ladies of good blood and no fortune, 
who went out hoping to find husbands among the 
rich planters of Hispaniola. Don Diego and his wife 
held a little court more splendid than any that had been 
seen in the New World before, and built a beautiful 
mansion to live in. 

Diego, however, succeeded to some of his father's 
troubles as well as to his honors. There were the in- 
evitable revolts and squabbles, for which the governor 
had to bear the blame and travel to Spain to answer 
the consequences. Among other things, there was a 
tedious suit to recover revenues to which the descend- 
ants of Christopher Columbus were entitled, in the 
great profits which poured in from the 'New World. 
It was on one of his journeys to Spain, in 1526, when 
he was pushing this suit, that Diego Columbus, follow- 
ing the court of Charles Y, grandson of Ferdinand 
and Isabella, fell ill of a fever. He tried still to follow 
the movements of the court in a litter, and died, as his 
father had done, away from home and a solicitor at 
the Spanish court, leaving his affairs still unsettled. 
The manao^ement of them now fell to his wife, the vice- 



THE LAST DAYS OF COLUMBUS. 301 

queen, and she tried to push the suit for the benefit 
of her little son Luis ; but there was finally a com- 
promise, and the heirs of Columbus accepted a pension 
and the dukedom of Yeragua, in place of the honors 
which Columbus had hoped to leave to his family. 
The descendants of Columbus still live in Spain and 
succeed to the title of Duke of Yeragua. 

The little Ferdinand, who was with Columbus on 
his last and most dangerous and irksome voyage, be- 
came a great book collector. Like all the relatives of 
Columbus in Spain, he w^as finally enriched by the 
court out of the revenues of the ^N^ew World and with 
gifts of Indian slaves. He collected a very fine library, 
and built a sumptuous mansion, which stood in the 
middle of a beautiful garden filled with trees brought 
from the l^ew World. 

Christopher Columbus died still holding many mis- 
taken ideas about the lands he had discovered. He 
thought Cuba part of the main-land, and he still believed 
the main-land, to be some outlying part of Asia, while 
the more civilized lands, he imagined, might be reached 
by a strait leading into some inner sea, like the Medi- 
terranean in Europe. But in spite of his mistakes in 
geography, Columbus knew perfectly that he had made 
a very great discovery and earned for himself a glorious 
name. 

It was the fashion early in the century, when Wash- 
ington Irving wrote his famous Life of Columbus, to see 
no faults of character in the great discoverer, and to rep- 
resent him as little less than a hero or a saint. Indeed, 
one biography of the discoverer was written to persuade 
the Catholic Church to canonize him. There has been a 



302 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 

natural reaction from such an attitude of over-reverence, 
and to-daj scholars are inclined to take an opposite view, 
some even going so far as to represent the famous dis- 
coverer as rather worse than an ordinary sinner. Both 
views of the character of Columbus are no doubt ex- 
treme. He was the product of his age — an age of new-- 
born discovery, of greed for wealth, of bigotry, and of 



^^^J'^ i^v^ 



-""^;;r ^' ^ ^^-7^^\'% 









PALACE AT SANTO DOMINGO BUILT BY DIEGO COLL'MBUS. 

ruthlessness. He outran his age in a lively belief in 
the possibility of passing around the globe, while he 
w^as not above the spirit of his time wdien he accepted 
a pension for first seeing land, a reward which he might 
have turned over to a common sailor. He made great 
discoveries, but he held mistaken ideas about them — 
notions which he once childishly tried to enforce by the 
oaths of his men. He had expected and promised 
great riches, and he planted the evil of Indian slavery 
to force this expected wealth from the bowels of the 
earth ; wdiile his whole after-life became a bondage to 
the necessity for verifying his rash promises. If his 
colony was the home of misfortune, it is no more than 



THE LAST DAYS OF COLUMBUS. 393 

can be said of all early plantings in America and of all 
newly discovered gold regions. His unchecked imagi- 
nation carried liim on many flights — flights which some 
writers think to be mental wanderings, since they con- 
trast very unfavorably with his reasonable project, as it 
seems to us, of attaining the East by sailing westward. 
He was a modern man in his discovery of a new hemi- 
sphere, he was a child of the middle ages in his fancy 
for turning the profits of his voyages toward a crusade 
to rescue the Holy Sepulchre. But whatever were the 
faults of Columbus, it must still be admitted that he 
was a very great man, in that he gave himself to a 
great purpose which he carried out in the face of im- 
mense obstacles, while he bore with no little fortitude a 
life of great hardship and a career of thwarting mis- 
fortune. 



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